Ultimante Fantasy
by Scott Wolf
Summary: I get sucked into the world of FFVIII. Jumps from my POV to Quistis' POV from chap 1 to 2, then back to me, the rest is told in 3rd person for ease of writing.
1. Enter The Wolf

Ultimate Fantasy

**Ultimate Fantasy  
Part I  
Enter The Wolf**

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Zell asked as he cracked his knuckles. "I mean, three-on-one isn't very fair, especially since it's us."  
"I've got to agree with Zell on this one," Irvine put in as he was loading his shotgun. "You've got hardly any chance."  
"This is unwise, Scott," Squall said, drawing his Gunblade. "There are other, easier ways..."  
"No," I said, cutting him off. "This is how I want to do it." Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, and Irvine Kinneas were right. This wasn't fair, I didn't have much chance of winning, and there were easier ways of taking the pre-test. But taking another route once I'm on the one I chose, no matter how easy, just wasn't my style. Like when I won Quistis' heart, I was set on my path, and nothing could change it no matter how ugly it got. Obstacles were sure to come, but I would face them. As the Marines in my world say, "Improvise, Overcome, Adapt."  
Quistis Trepe was overseeing the test, reluctantly. When I told her how I was going to take my test, she begged me not to. She didn't want me to get hurt. Somehow I managed to talk her into it and score me. I also asked her not to give me a higher score just because of our relationship. I wanted to earn the right to take the final exam.  
Next to Quistis stood Selphie Timitt and Rinoa Heartilly, girlfriends of Irvine and Squall respectively. They wore the same concerned faces as Quistis. Though I hadn't been with the group for as long as everyone else, we were a family. We cared for each other, we backed each other, we helped each other with problems.  
But for the next few minutes, I was just another recruit trying to get into an elite mercenary unit.  
"If I don't do it this way, then I can't do it at all," I continued. "I have to prove it to myself."  
"Very well," Squall said with a sigh. "Prepare yourself. I warn you that we won't go easily on you. Quistis, begin the test." And with that, he attacked, Gunblade forward._  
One thing about Squall_, I thought as I jumped back and away. _He doesn't waste time_.  
He came at me again, but I was ready for him. I jumped and stepped on his shoulder, and launched myself over him, pushing off the back of his head with my other foot as I went by. I lost track of him temporarily, because Zell had stepped up and blind-sided me. When I got my bearings, (which was fairly fast compared to what I was when I first got here) I turned to him. But he was already on top of me, swinging those powerful fists in my direction. I tried to block, but only partially succeeded. I took some hits in the face, chest, and stomach. Thinking quickly, I jumped backwards, and when he was in range, I jumped again, executing a round house kick to his face, then another, and a third, till finally I did a simple jump kick and shoved him to the floor. I landed on my left knee, my right leg stretched out to the right. In my opinion, that was the best move I had made; Irvine had taken position and fired a round in my direction. It whizzed above my head and made me duck. Whether he meant to miss or not, I didn't have time to think on it.  
Squall had recovered and was on the attack again. This time, I decided to play it safe. I drew my Gunblade, very similar to Squalls, and, still crouching, I blocked his blow. He bore down on me with all his weight. I didn't know how long I could hold this position, so I brought my left arm away from the Gunblade, put it to the ground, and brought my right leg back and into his gut. With all the leg strength I could muster, I shoved him off me. I heard a click and knew Irvine was going to fire again. Quickly I did a handstand on the arm that was touching the ground, and threw myself backward in an attempt to evade the attack. Irvine tracked my move and fired.  
I didn't feel the bullet enter my right shoulder, but I saw a splash of red hit the ground. Time seemed to slow. I heard a scream, knew it was Quistis. I was dazed and confused for a moment. I couldn't remember what was happening. It was quiet suddenly. I could see Squall, his lips moving, but there weren't any words or sounds coming out. I felt a tingle in my shoulder, and then I realized what had happened. I had been shot. I looked at Irvine, and he was just as surprised as I was. I think he was betting on me to keep moving. I heard running, and knew Quistis was running to my side. Now that I knew what was happening, I could act. I raised my uninjured arm and waved her back. I heard myself saying, or rather shouting, "The battle won't stop just because I get hurt." I shouted it a little more loudly then I meant to. I was starting to feel the pain.  
I saw her step back and I began to hurt that much more. Now, I began to focus on the magic spell Thundara. I felt the power surge through me, building up to red line. I pushed the power to my fist, and released it, shoving my fist toward Irvine. It hit him dead on and knocked him down.  
As I reset myself for another attack, Zell came at me again. I was able to hold him back this time. He swung, I ducked, dodged, and did whatever I could to evade his fists and feet. I was slowing down now, the pain in my shoulder was so great. In the corner of my eye, I saw Squall charge at me, perhaps to finish the battle while I was tangled up with Zell. Out of desperation, I swung my Gunblade down and forward, catching Zell right across the thigh. He fell back, yelling in pain. I had cut deep enough to remove him as a threat. As he fell away, I brought my Gunblade around to block Squall just in time. Our blades met once again, and it became a sword fight. A duel. The sound of metal on metal, the smell of my blood, my sweat, his sweat, it all made for the perfect fight. I attacked, he parried. He swung, I blocked. I slashed, he dodged. On and on it went. I was feeling very weak. The blood loss was getting to my mind. Come on... focus...  
I swung at Squall again, but he ducked away and stepped back. I set myself for what was most likely to be the final blow. I was starting to see black around the edges of my vision. My sword was lower than I wanted it to be. I tried to re-position it, but found it to be heavier than lead. I had lost, but I didn't want to admit it. I was prepared to fight until I was knocked out or killed. I was ready for whatever Squall sent at me. I was ready for anything. Anything but what he did.  
Seeing my state, he flipped his Gunblade over, slammed it into the ground, and backed off with his arms out to the sides. I must have had a confused look on my face, because, for a moment, no one spoke. Finally, Squall broke the mood.  
"If we continue this battle, you'll die. And I can't let that happen. I surrender, for your sake, and Quistis'. You are victorious."  
Dropping to my knees, I weakly replied, "I... accept.. your.. surrender."I felt myself fall to the side, but I don't remember landing.  
The next thing I remember, I was lying in the Infirmary, bandages on my shoulder. I began to sit up, but was immediately halted by a sharp pain in my shoulder, then another in my head. I moaned a bit, and Quistis came rushing around the corner.  
"Scott!! You're awake!" She was almost hysterical. I lay back and closed my eyes for a minute.  
"Feels like I got hit by a semi going 90 miles an hour," I said, not really knowing what I was saying. She sat down next to me and held my hand.  
"The doctor says you'll be fine in a few days," she said. "As for the test, you survived, so you passed. I'm so proud of you."  
"Thanks, Quistis. Couldn't have done it without you," I said with a smile.  
"You're welcome."

I don't know how I got here. Well, I have an idea, but it's a little far fetched. Hell, for all I know this could be a very elaborate dream. Possibly one of my friends hired some actors, made some special effects and tried to cheer me up some. Whatever the reason, I'm here. I'm not even gonna try to explain. Probably come off like a blithering idiot. All's I know is that the first moment I arrived, I was attacked by a monster called a Buel. I had woken up in a field full of dandelions. A old, wrecked house wasn't far.  
The Buel came at me, flying low to the ground. I evaded it's attack, and ran for the house. I didn't get too far; the Buel knocked me down from behind. I decided to fight the thing. Who knows? Maybe I'd win. Wishful thinking, huh? I landed one kick, but it was a luck shot. It had come in low again. I had jumped up above it's wings and swung my leg out. Caught it right between the eyes. As I began to pat myself on the back (figuratively), it flew back up and knocked me down again.  
Suddenly, a blast of cold overcame me. I rolled to the right, just before a blast of ice blew the Buel away. I turned on my back and looked over to where the blast had come from. I could see three figures. One was holding a kind of sword. The person to his right was holding a chain with a point on the end of it. The third person had no weapons. The last thing that ran through my mind before passing out was the fact that my ultimate fantasy had come true: I was in the Final Fantasy VIII world.

I woke up some time later in a hospital room of some kind. There was a window above my bed, and an observation room off to the right. A curtain was pulled across the entryway to the bed area.  
After a successful test of my limbs, I stood with a groan. After a short stretch, I looked out the window above the bed. What I saw was somewhat familiar. It was a sort of grounds, Like a college campus, with trees and benches. Everyone was wearing a uniform, also familiar... could those be..  
"So, we are finally awake?" I spun to see a little, plump Japanese woman standing at the foot of the bed. She was dressed in a doctor's uniform, which didn't surprise me as much as her sudden appearance.  
"Um... yeah, I guess so."  
"Good. My name is Doctor Kadowaki. Now, lay back down, and let me take a look at you," She said, and I obeyed.  
Feeling my chest with very delicate fingers, she gently poked and prodded me, working her way down my stomach, then back up to my shoulders. As she examined my right arm, she started to ask me questions.  
"So, how'd you end up out there by yourself?"  
"Got me," I replied. "I barely know where I am, much less how I got here."  
"Maybe you'll be able to put it together after a while, yes?"  
"Possibly."  
"Squall, Zell, Quistis and Rinoa said you appeared out of a flash of white light," she said as she moved down to my right leg.  
"Who?!" I exclaimed. I nearly jumped up, but she held me fast. She was stronger than she looked.  
"Easy, now. The CeeD's who saved you. They were visiting Edea and Cid Krammer when there was a bright flash and you fell from the sky. Squall, Zell, and Quistis rushed out to see what had happened, when they found you struggling with a monster. It beat you fairly badly. You passed out shortly after."  
"I can't believe it," I was muttering. "Did it actually happen? How did it happen? Why?"  
"Dear doctor, is the patient awake?"  
I knew that voice, even though I had never heard it. It was soft and light, yet strong and demanding. It also had a slight touch of age, so it wasn't real hard to figure who it was.  
"Yes, Cid," the doctor replied as Cid entered the room. "He is awake, and in good condition. The bump on his head will only be temporary."  
"Ahh, good," Cid said as he stood over me. "I am Cid Krammer, former headmaster of this garden. Welcome to Balamb Garden."  
_So it did happen_, I thought as I lay there listening. _But why? Why to me? And how?_  
"We found you fighting a monster near my wife's house. Well, actually, my students found you," Cid was saying. "Dear doctor, would you please summon them?"  
"Of course, Cid," the doctor replied. "I'll just be a minute."  
As she hurried off to make the call, Cid sat down on the bed next to me. I sat up so I could be on the same level as him. "They brought your unconscious form up to my wife's house, along with the backpack that was found near you. We haven't disturbed anything in it. You'll find all your possessions still within."  
"Well," I said, "that's good to hear."  
"I knew you'd be pleased to hear it. Strange belongings though. A pen that makes a dot of light on a wall, a knife, a broken CD player and quite a few CD's that none of us have ever heard off. It had Selphie in a fit trying to remember if she had heard of any of them."  
_He's mentioning characters from Final Fantasy VIII. It must have happened._ "Um.. Exactly how did I get here?" I asked, wanting to get some answers.  
"Well," he began, "Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell had flown our airship, the Ragnarok, to Edea's house for some quiet time. They were out having lunch when there was a bright flash and a bang. When they went to investigate, they found you on the ground. They destroyed the monster, and brought you and your stuff, passed out and all, up to the house. Edea, my wife, could do nothing, so Squall decided to bring you here. That pretty much sums everything up. You've been here for about eight hours now."  
"That long?" I said. "Must've got hit too hard." The door opened, and in stepped Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, and Quistis. I gapped at her. She looked much prettier in person.  
"So this is the guy we saved out there, eh?" Zell said, his voice sounded much like mine in accent. It was a sort of Californian surfer/rocker, with a hint of ghetto.  
"Easy Zell," Rinoa said. "He's been asleep for a while."  
"Hey!" Selphie practically yelled at me, coming up right to my face. "Who made those songs? I've never heard of any of them!"  
"Now, Selphie," Irvine said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back. "We need to keep cool, here. We don't want to offend our guest"  
Squall spoke next. "What were you doing out there? Why were you all alone?"  
The next voice I latched on to. "Ok, everyone just calm down. We've got a lot of questions for him, and I'm sure he has a few for us. Let's take this somewhere where we have more room."  
Quistis. Her voice was commanding, but underneath was understanding and compassion. I instantly loved her. At the time, I figured I had no chance at getting any girl to like me. I had always had that kind of trouble when I was in my world. Couldn't talk to a girl I liked if my life depended on it. Something about Quistis made me want to try.  
Cid led us up to his office, where we sat down on a table set behind the Bridge pillar. Nida, the Garden's pilot (it is a flying Garden, after all. It needs someone to fly it!) was told to land near the Shumi village and go see to the replacing of perishables to the Garden. This meant we had to be way north on the planet. Mentally, I brought up a map of the world (the FFVIII world) and tracked our position. After Selphie and Rinoa passed out cups of coffee, (I had water, coffee wasn't my kind of drink) the Q&A period began.  
"First off, let's get a little more acquainted," Cid started. "I'll introduce my students..."  
"I know them already," I said, cutting him off, but in such a way as not to insult him. "The guy in the black leather jacket is Squall Leonhart. The girl next to him, wearing the blue sleeveless, knee-length jacket with the angel wings sewn onto the back is Rinoa Heartilly, his girlfriend." They both stiffened, especially Rinoa when I mentioned the angel wings. She hadn't shown me her back yet.  
"Next up, we have Selphie Timitt, and her boyfriend, Irvine Kinneas, the sharpshooter. You didn't miss Edea, Irvine. She shielded herself." Irvine looked aghast at that. "How did you know that?!"  
"Moving right along," I continued "we have the tattoo-faced, cool handed, ass-kicker of the first degree, Zell Dincht." Zell went slack-jawed.  
"And finally, the beautiful chain whip toting Quistis Trepe, formerly an instructor of this school, and my favorite out of the whole lot here." Quistis blushed and turned her head away, her mouth covered by her hand. "I believe that's everyone."  
"Impressive," Squall commented.  
"How'd he know all that?" Zell asked.  
"Wow! Are you psychic?" Selphie said.  
"His favorite..." I heard from Quistis. I'm not sure, but I think that is what compelled her to love me.  
"All right, everyone, calm down," Cid said, restoring order. "Young man, I think it's time you explained some things. Please start with how you know everyone here."  
"That part is simple to answer," I replied. "Explaining the answer will be harder. Figuring out how I got here will be toughest of all. I'll do my best to recall the events. Let's see... I guess I should start with my name, Scott Wolf. Final Fantasy is a video game where I come from. It's played on a console that attaches to your television. A disk is inserted into the console, called Playstation, and depending on the type of disk, a game is played. I was obsessed with the game. I played it for hours on end. Even when I was a kid, I liked to pretend I was the main character. Probably why I don't have many friends. After I moved out to the garage, I spent every waking hour playing it. I had everything I needed to live out there. A bed, TV., my stereo, and even a little refrigerator so I could keep food out there. It was cool.  
"Well, I had just gotten home from a yard sale at my friends house. I had picked up a ton of his audio disks, and had been listening to them on the way home. I entered my garage/room, and noticed that the lights hadn't come on when I hit the switch. Perturbed, I flicked the switch several times. Seeing it as pointless, I turned on the TV. and powered the Playstation. The familiar dialogue came up. Then something slightly odd happened: The system started to shake and move about. I grabbed it, and, at my touch, I was engulfed in a bright white light. Next thing I know, I'm in that field of flowers. The rest you know."  
"An interesting story," Cid said. "What proof have we that it's true?"  
"I don't have any, actually," I replied, looking away for a moment. As I looked back I said, "But I have no reason to lie to you, or anyone else here."  
"True enough," Cid said, thoughtfully.  
"Headmaster," Squall said. "I'd like to talk to you in private, if you don't mind."  
"Speak your mind, Squall," Cid said. "I'm sure our guest won't be offended." Something tells me that that was a bad idea, I thought to myself. Squall's not the most open person, and it could get ugly. To my surprise, he said exactly what I hoped he would say.  
"I believe him."  
"You do?" everyone but Cid and I said in unison.  
"Yes," he continued. "He has no reason to lie, and the events are logical, though a bit far-fetched. And, as events here lately have been real far-fetched, it seems to fit in."  
"Have you guys beaten Ulticema yet?" I asked, trying to figure out where I had jumped into the timeline.  
"Yeah," Zell said. "Whipped her ass but good."  
"Then the game's already over. I got sucked in after the time-compressed world. I hadn't gotten that far in the game yet."  
"Well, that convinces me," Quistis said. "No one else knew about the compressed world but the six of us and Edea. How could he know?"  
"That's a good question," Selphie said. "If you haven't gotten that far, how do you know?"  
"I have a help book," I said. "It guided me through most of the hairy spots in the game."  
"Makes sense," Irvine said.  
"Um..." Rinoa said, speaking for the first time since we got into the room.  
"What is it, Rinoa?" Squall asked.  
"Well, I was wondering if you knew what we have all been thinking during the past few weeks. I mean, it was a game to you, so it probably told you how we were feeling, right?"  
"Mostly, it told what Squall was thinking," I replied. "I only got thoughts from others occasionally."  
"Oh. I see," she said, settling back down into her seat. I was gonna have to talk to her later about why she had asked.  
"Squall," Cid said. "May I have a word with you?"  
"Yes sir," Squall replied.  
He and Cid stood and took the elevator/lift up to the bridge of the flying garden. Taking the moment of distraction, everyone began to talk to each other, ignoring me for the moment. I was cool with that, I needed to check my stuff anyway. Opening my green backpack, I found everything that had been in it to be there. The CD player was indeed broken into several parts, irreparable by myself. I probably could if I had the right tools. I had always been good at fixing electronic gadgets.  
My notebook was also there. All my papers from school, pictures, poems and song lyrics, even the music note sheet for one of the songs was there. Guess when they went through my stuff, it was a look-but-don't-keep job. My laser pen and survival knife were there as well. I felt a little more relieved now that I had all that I owned with me.  
Cursing the CD player, I zipped my bag up and dropped it to the floor next to me. Hours passed, and they still hadn't returned. Zell and Irvine had played several rounds of Triple Triad, the popular card game in this world. Selphie and Rinoa had been discussing possibilities for the upcoming dance. Bored, I lay my head on my arms and just looked ahead. A commotion from Zell about a rule brought my head up. As I looked up, I found myself starring into the blue eyes of Quistis. I froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. She broke the moment by looking up. I did too, following her gaze to Squall and Cid, now descending from the bridge. The mini-meeting was apparently over.  
"Scott," Cid said as Squall returned to his seat, "I have made a decision, and Squall has agreed with it. We would like to offer you a chance to live your fantasy. We'd like you to become a CeeD."  
"Really?" I exclaimed, jumping out of my seat. "You serious?"  
"Yes," Squall said. "We thing that it would be best for you, since you A. Have nowhere to go, B. don't know anyone who knows you, and C. we're short handed on competent SeeD members as things are." He sat back and folded his arms. I looked over at Quistis. She had a bright smile on her face. Squall continued. "However, you'll have to take an accelerated course. We have a graduation coming up soon. We'd like you to be in that graduation. It won't be easy. You'll have very little time to yourself, as you'll be training most of the time. You look like you could handle it though. What do you say?"  
"Of course I accept!" I said, clenching my fist. "I'd say yes if the conditions were to fight another Buel by myself and win!"  
"You'll not have to do that anymore, if you don't want to," Cid said with a laugh. "Just be yourself, train hard, and you'll be just fine."  
"Thank you Headmaster, you'll not regret this!" I said.  
"My dear boy, if I thought I would, I'd not have offered."  
I saluted him as I would a general in the American army. Frowning, Cid walked around the table, and brought my arm down parallel to my body, and positioned my hand so it was just outside my vision. He then returned the salute.  
"Squall, he'll need someplace to bunk," Irvine said. "Where we gonna put him? The dorms are all full, and none of us guys got room to spare. We all got people livin' with us."  
I figured, correctly, that they all had their significant others living in the same room as them. Irvine had Selphie, Squall Rinoa, and Zell had that girl from the library. That left Quistis.  
"Um..." she said, raising her hand. "I've got room, if he doesn't mind sleeping with a woman. I MEAN, in the same room."  
For a moment, I couldn't say anything. Here was the woman of my dreams offering to let me sleep in her room. Cid's voice broke my trance, asking if it was ok with me.  
"Uh... yeah, if you've got room," I said to Quistis.  
"I can make room."  
"Then it's settled," Cid said. "Tomorrow, you'll choose a weapon that you feel is best for you. For now, I think it's time we adjourned. It's late, and I'm sure you're all tired. Dismissed."  
As I entered the elevator to the bottom floor, Quistis took hold of my hand. Surprised, I looked down at her hand holding mine. I looked at her, but she didn't look at me till we reached the bottom. When she did, she smiled. She led me to her room in that way, and, for a moment, I though I heard Selphie comment to Zell, "Looks like there'll be another top couple here soon, eh Zell?"  
"Yeah, maybe."

Quistis' room was a mess. Magazines were here and there, books covered her desk, papers were everywhere. She apologized for the mess and tried to clean up a bit. I picked up one of the papers and looked at it. It had information about Galbadia Garden's latest position.  
"I've been pretty busy lately, trying to find Galbadia Garden," she was saying as she attempted to organize her things. I held out the paper, and she gently took it. " Um..." She looked around for a second, then went to her closet. Reaching in, she took hold of several blankets. "Here, you can sleep on the floor." She handed me the blankets, and turned back to her closet. "I'm sure I have a pillow in here somewhere..."  
"Thanks, Quistis," I said. "You've been real nice to me. And we haven't known each other that long."  
"Oh, it's nothing," she said, turning to me and handing me a pillow. "Here."  
"Thanks." I dropped the pillow and my backpack on the floor underneath her window. I then turned back to her. She was turned away from me, undressing. She turned her head and looked at me. I quickly turned my back. "So, uh... been here long?" Stupid question.  
"Yeah," she replied. I could hear her moving around. "Been here since I was fourteen. I made SeeD in a year, and became instructor a few years later."  
"I know."  
"Then why did you ask?"  
"Just trying to make conversation."  
"Oh.. Ok, you can turn around." She had changed into sweatpants and a loose tank-top. She looked great. "What about you? Gonna sleep like that," she asked, indicating my clothes.  
"Gonna have to. I don't have anything else."  
"We'll have to get you some new clothes tomorrow then," she said, smiling. At that moment (actually I was hoping something like this would happen), there was a knock on the door. Quistis opened it and I heard Irvine's voice.  
"I thought he might need somethin to sleep in, so he can have my old sweats and this shirt. They should fit, we're about the same size." Actually, we were. He's six foot one, and so am I.  
"Thanks Irvine," Quistis replied, taking the clothes. "We were just talking about that."  
"Well, g'night then," Irvine said, and Quistis closed the door.  
"Here ya go," she said, tossing them playfully to me. I caught them and, after removing my shoes and throwing a glance at Quistis, to which she turned around as I had for her (we weren't intimate yet, remember?), I undressed and donned my new sleepwear. I told Quistis it was ok now, and set to making my bed on her floor as she lay down in her own bed. She turned off the lights after I was ready.  
We said goodnight to each other, and attempted to sleep. A fairly difficult task, I found it. I was too excited to sleep. The thought of training to be a SeeD. After about an hour, I sat back up and starred out the window to the outside world. We were in motion, passing parallel with a mountain range. I just sat and thought to myself rapid thoughts too numerous to even try to mention. Memories of home came up, as did images of my few friends. I looked over a Quistis, who appeared to be asleep. I could tell she wasn't. She was just laying there, eyes closed. I could tell she was excited at having me sleep in her room. I reflected on what I figured to be her emotional state. She had tried to be with Squall, but he flat out ignored her. He didn't reject her, as she was, at the time, his instructor, but he didn't accept her motions toward him at all. Back then he was a lone wolf, much like me. He and Seifer Almasy were always fighting, and it was usually Quistis who broke it up, kind of like an older sister protecting her brother. She had thought of it as love. But after graduation, Squall had made it very clear he wasn't interested. When Rinoa came into the picture, she gave up all together. She didn't want to be with Zell, and Irvine had repulsed her during the assassination mission. She had given up on trying to love completely. Then, after their victory over Ulticema, I came into the picture. Something about me had relit the candle of love she thought had gone out completely. And now, here was her chance to be happy. I was more than willing to make her happy. On that thought, I lay back down and finally fell asleep.


	2. Quistis' Heart

**Ultimate Fantasy  
****Quistis' Heart**

He's been training really hard for the past month, and already he's got more talent and skill than our most senior student has. And that's not speculation. Jehli Wilgron, the top student in the garden, challenged Scott to a fight. Or at least he was. They met in the Quad, in the shade of the Ragnarok. Jehli arrived first, Scott second with me trailing behind.

"Now, Quistis," he said aloud so Jehli would hear. He's so cocky. "I'm sure he just wants to talk, that's all. This is just a big miss understanding."

"Come on Scott," I said, equally as loud, "this is dumb. Why would he want to talk to you? He's so much better than you."

I heard a snap, and dove back out of the way. Scott turned and caught a fist in the face, sending him reeling. He recovered quickly and sent a barrage of fists and feet of his own. Jehli blocked every one of them. He dropped below Scott's defenses, and landed a solid kick to his midsection. Scott fell back, and pretended to be hurt. As Jehli stood over him, I could see Scott prepare to fire a magic spell, his fist was to his forehead, and his face was a mask of concentration.

"Think you're hot stuff, eh?" Jehli was saying. "Who's laughing now?"

"After this," Scott said, "you'll laugh when you look in the mirror!" He very quickly thrust his fist out toward Jehli and released the elemental blast. It caught Jehli half in the face, throwing him back. Slowly Scott stood, and walked toward him. For a moment he just stared at him, then he helped him to his feet. "Let's get you to the doc."

I ran over and helped hold him up. He was mumbling something I couldn't make out. It was in Helic, his home language. I spoke very little of it, and he was speaking too slowly for me to get any of it. We got him to the Infirmary, and left him in the capable hands of Doctor Kadowaki, our head nurse. As we walked out of the office. Something was bothering me.

"Notice anything strange about that?" I asked.

"What, the fact that he wanted to kill me for no reason?" Scott replied.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "While we were carrying him here, he started saying something in his home language. He never speaks it in public, especially after a fight."

"So? Why's that strange? He was probably cursing me for beating him like that. Scar on his face'll make him madder and meaner."

"If that's true, you'd better be more careful around here. You don't need any trouble right now."

"Something tells me," Scott said in a low voice, "that trouble has me marked and targeted. Come on, let's get to the Training Center."

I agreed and we headed off to start the day's session with the monsters. He had already met with Squall and Zell for his hand-to-hand and close-in fighting. He was getting very good with his Gunblade. After that, he met with Rinoa and Selphie in the library for history, math, and English lessons. History and English were easy for him. He told us he was well cultured from his grandma and his father. Math gave him trouble, though. He wasn't very apt at number crunching. Not that was the most important subject in Balamb Garden. Far from it. It was the least important, but Cid wanted him to take it.

Next was his choice. He worked in the garage with the garden's cars. The garden was flying, and the cars hadn't been used very much. Scott took it upon himself to fix a few up. He even got Irvine to help. He was able to get two cars running again. He said his skills came from his uncle. Lately he was working on a car that was pretty messed up. For some reason, he wanted this car to run.

We arrived at the entrance to the Training Center, and I stopped him for a moment.

"I want to give you something before we get in there," I said. I placed two fingers on his forehead and concentrated on transferring a Guardian Force (GF) summoner to his mind. He started to fall over as the initial surge hit him, but he caught himself. When it was done, I stepped back. He shook off the feeling and stared me.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I just gave you a GF."

"Aww, and I didn't get you anything," he said, jokingly.

"Just take care of it," I said. "I borrowed it from Squall, and he'd be slightly mad if it came back damaged."

"So, what's it's name?" he asked.

"Shiva," I replied.

"NO WAY!" Scott exclaimed. "I get to use Shiva?!"

"Yep," I said with a smile. "It's yours from now on."

"Cool! Thanks Quistis!" he said and hugged me. When he released me from that lovely embrace, he said, "come on, let's rock!" He then ran thru the entrance shouting Leroy Jenkins.

For a moment, I couldn't move. His touch had been absolutely wonderful. I didn't want to move, but I found the strength and followed after him.

I lost track of him shortly after I entered the Danger Area. I searched and searched, but I couldn't find him anywhere. The place wasn't that big, but I had gone all the way across the compound. I was getting really worried. I started thinking things like he was hurt or dead somewhere in here. I was beginning to panic when a T-Rexaur burst through the foliage at a dead run at me. I dropped to the ground as it's large feet passed over me, and it ran right passed me. I looked up, and had to duck again; Scott was running after the T-Rexaur. He said a brief hello as he passed over and chased the T-Rexaur down. He leapt onto the monster's back and climbed up to it's head. Reaching back into his pocket, he pulled out a small pouch full of sleeping powder which he emptied onto the beast, halting it's movement as it dropped to the ground asleep. He dropped off it's head and walked back to me.

"That was fun," he said.

"Damnit, Scott," I said as I punched him in the arm. "You scared the crap out of me! First you disappear, and I can't find you, then you reappear chasing a T-Rexaur, and then you walk up and say 'That was fun?'"

"Sorry," was all he said, and he meant it. "I wasn't thinking. I was just so happy about alot of stuff, I went a little crazy."

I looked into his eyes, and I could tell he was remorseful. I softened a bit, but I was still angry. "You still should'a waited for me. It's still dangerous in here. You took down a young one. The family'll be around here somewhere."

Do you believe in irony? How about excellent timing? The family burst through the foliage all around us, roaring and snarling. We were surrounded. As I searched for an escape, the largest one grabbed Scott in it's jaws and took him into the air like a piece of meat. Only Scott wasn't gonna go quietly. He quickly drew his Gunblade and swung it towards the beast's nose, striking a gash. It immediately dropped him and roared in pain. The next largest one came at me, but I used my Chain Whip to keep her at bay. I yelled for Scott to run for the exit, but I saw that he had his hands full at the moment. The eldest T-Rexaur had him against a large rock and was trying to get at him without getting sliced up. Scott was holding him off, but it was starting to look bad. I ran through the legs of the T-Rexaur I was facing, and ran towards him. Thinking quickly, I began to charge with an Ice magic spell. I released it upon the monster, and tackled Scott to get him out of the way. It worked and we flew into the bushes and down a hill to a safe area. I landed hard on top of Scott, but he didn't complain much. We rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and I crawled off him.

"You ok?" he asked. I was more than ok. I felt good laying next to him. It was like something inside me had been sleeping, and was just waking up. It felt like I was floating, drifting in zero-G.. I hadn't felt like this since... since before Rinoa came and got Squall to love her. Is that what I was feeling? Love? I couldn't tell at the time because, when I loved Squall, I hadn't had much feedback. With Scott, I get responses, feelings, feedback that suggests he might feel the same.

We climbed back up the hill and, since the monsters had disappeared, made our way to the exit. I was really struggling inside with a decision I had to make. By the time we reached the exit, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Scott?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"Um.. I'm gonna ask you a question, and I want a serious answer. But it's hard to ask..."

"Go ahead and ask, Quistis," Scott said as he pulled me closer and put an arm around my shoulder.

"Ok... Do you have a girlfriend?" He looked at me in a weird way. " I mean, back home."

"No, I don't," he replied, and I felt my heart leap for joy. "Couldn't get one if I tried either. Kinda had a bad rap for being the school loser."

"Oh," I said. "Well, I kinda have that reputation too."

"You? I doubt that," he said. "What about the Trepe Groupies?"

"Oh please, those people are way too weird for me."

"What about me?" he asked. The question shot through me. What about me?

"Well... um... you... I kinda..."

"Like?" he said.

"Well, yeah.. I guess..."I stammered.

"That's cool. I kinda like you too," he said.

"You mean that? Really?" I asked as I looked into his eyes.

"Yeah. I do," he said.

"Good," I said, as I drew him closer. "Cause I mean it too."

The next month went by very fast for us. We did everything together. Well, almost. I didn't let him sleep with me for a while. I wanted to see how serious he really was. I found out about a week before he was scheduled to take the preparatory test to become a CeeD. He came back to the room real late one night, dirty and covered in grease. He had a smile on his face. I asked what was he so happy for.

"I got Mad Cat to run," he replied.

"Really? That's great!" I exclaimed. Mad Cat was what he referred to as an SUV that we had down in the garage. He had really put a lot of effort into it.

"It still needs work, but it runs."

"That's good," I said, returning to studying maps.

"I also talked to Squall," he said as he began to change clothes.

"About what?" I asked.

"My pre-test. He asked how I wanted to do it. I told him I wanted to fight three CeeD."

"That's..." I started, then stopped and looked at him. "You what?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I want to fight CeeD's. If I can't beat them, how am I gonna pass the real test?"

"Who will you be fighting?" I asked, but I probably already knew the answer.

"Zell, Squall, and Irvine agreed to help out."

"No," I said as I stood up. "I won't let you get yourself killed. They have more experience than any CeeD in the field right now, and they'll kill you. Don't do it. Please!"

I kept talking to him, giving him many more reasons not to go through with it, but I could tell in his eyes that I wasn't having any success. He was very hard-headed, and wouldn't change his mind. He told me he had a week to prepare, and he planned to be very ready. Dressed in his fighting clothes, a blue long sleeve shirt, blue shorts that hung just below his knees, and black fingerless gloves, he went down to the training center. I followed him after about ten minutes. By now, I knew how to find him down there: Look for a heard of monsters running for their lives. Tonight he was chasing a rather large Gnat (not the flying type) when I caught up. I let him finish his kill, then approached from behind. He turned and saw me.

"I'm not going to change my mind, Quistis," he said as I got closer.

"I know," I said as I came close to him. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet. I wrapped my arms around him after he sheathed his Gunblade, and he returned the gesture of affection. We walked to the "Secret Area," a place we had frequented lately. There were only a few other couples there tonight, so we weren't bothered by the company. Besides, they were here, doing the same thing we had done for the past month. We found our favorite spot, right in the center of the rail overlooking the garden, and leaned on it together. We didn't speak much tonight. At least not out loud. We just stood and looked out on the beautiful site of the garden in flight. Of course we were flying with it, but this angle made it look more majestic.

After about three hours, we grew tired of standing and starring, so we adjourned to our room. By just being with him tonight, I understood why he chose the venue of his test. He wanted to be part of us, the CeeD's, but he wanted to do it the hard way, to show those who had recommended him to stay that he was not going to just succeed. He was going to be the best CeeD that he could, and the only way he could do that, was to fight his way to the top. To be the best. That's what we all want. Even I want it. I knew my will wasn't as strong as Scott's, so I would be there to support, to be with, to love him through everything he, we, went through. That night, I let him sleep in the same bed as me. No fancy stuff, just a restful sleep.

The week past, and Scott took the test. He was seriously injured, but endured the pain and won the fight. We rushed him into the Infirmary, and Dr. Kadowaki tended to his wounds. He awoke hours later. I was so happy that he was alive, that I almost jumped onto the bed. Instead I sat down next to him and held his hand. He was there for three days before the good doctor released him.

Things with Jehli had gotten worse. Scott personally had no problem with the top student, and said so openly. But something made Jehli hate Scott so. He attempted to start fights regularly. Most of the time, Scott would shrug it off, but sometimes he would react rather harshly. It would end up with either Scott or Jehli, or in one instance, both in the Infirmary. Jehli really had it in for him.

I was growing tired of all of it. Jehli relentlessly attacked Scott, physically and verbally. Scott could handle both pretty well, and only got physical when he grew tired of the abuse. Finally, I decided enough's enough. I told Scott he was "confined to quarters," a ruff term meaning grounded. I then went looking for Jehli. I found him and his gang in the cafeteria.

"Jehli," I said in my most commanding voice. "I want to speak to you."

He half turned to me, showing his saber (his weapon of choice) like it was supposed to frighten me, and said, "So talk."

I drew in a deep breath, and began. "I want to know what you have against Scott Wolf."

"That's a personal matter," he replied and turned back to his gang. I walked right up to him, and spun him around till we were face-to-face. "It involves Scott, so it's also personal with me. Now start talking."

He shoved me back so hard that I lost my balance and fell to the floor. He and his gang laughed at me, and I began to get very angry. So angry, I didn't notice I was summoning Ifrit, my GF. I looked up and all of his buddies were standing around me, but at a distance. I stood, and beckoned for Jehli to come forward. Instead, one of his friends attacked from the side, catching my right arm with his dagger. I yelped and jumped back, but another came at me from my left. He swung his ax at my head, but I ducked and whipped my chain around his leg. It caught, and I pulled his leg out from under him. He landed with a thump. As I prepared for a follow up attack, I was knocked to the ground from behind. The next thing I knew, five feet were kicking at me from all sides. I couldn't tell exactly when I released Ifrit, but I knew he had done major damage. Three of the students were unconscious, the other two had escaped serious harm.

I was out of breath, and I didn't think I could take anymore. Luckily, I didn't have to. I heard a voice yell something behind me, and Jehli and his friend (maybe his girlfriend) looked up and behind me. I turned slowly and saw Scott standing there with a very angry look on his face.

"Ok, Jehli. I've been going light on you ever since I beat you the first time. Now you're in deep shit."

"Deep what?" Jehli asked in bewilderment. It occurred to me that I didn't know what he was talking about either.

"Shit. Synonymous with trouble," Scott said. "It means you're ass is grass, and I'm the lawnmower." He jumped higher than I'd ever seen him jump and landed between Jehli and the girl. With lightning speed, he swung out with both arms and knocked both of them to the floor. The girl spun into a table and disappeared from my sight. Jehli fell to the ground but was back up just as quickly, Gunblade drawn and ready. Scott drew his, and the fight was on. I had recovered enough to stand, so I ran over towards them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl dive at me. I caught her, but wasn't able to fight centrifugal force, and we landed on the floor with her on top. I then recognized her: Jessica Kurtiz. She was Jehli's girlfriend. I heard what happened next from a witness. While I struggled with Jessica, the fight had moved out into the hall. Scott brought his Gunblade down in a sweeping motion aimed at Jehli's arm. Jehli blocked and swung a blow of his own. Scott blocked, and jumped back. He then summoned Shiva, while Jehli summoned Strong Arm, his GF. The two GF's became locked in combat, with both sides taking heavy damage. Meanwhile, the fight continued. The garden was becoming a mess. Scraps all along the floor, chunks of masonry missing from the walls as a result of miss-aimed, -directed, and deflected magic spells, the GF's were tearing it up pretty badly as well.

Suddenly, the GF's disappeared. I saw what happened from here. As I dragged Jessica out into the hall, I saw Squall and Zell restraining Scott while Selphie, Rinoa, and Irvine held Jehli to the ground. I ran to help Squall, but before I could help, he had reached Jehli and they were trying to fight again. It took almost half an hour to completely restrain the two. Irvine was accidentally hit in the head with the butt end of a Gunblade, but he couldn't tell who's it was. Rinoa suffered a bruise on her shoulder and minor cuts on her shins and forearms. Other than that, there were no serious injuries.

"I'm surprised at all of you," Cid said. Me, Scott, Jehli, and Jessica were standing before his desk as he paced behind us. Our injuries were bandaged up, and we were, more or less, presentable.

"I'm especially surprised at you, Quistis. You were the senior member at this little dance, and you end up beating Jessica into submission. Scott and Jehli I can understand if not forgive. You and Jessica had nothing to do with each other." Cid was madder than I had ever seen him. His face was beet-red. Squall, who was standing behind the desk looking at us, was also angry, but not as angry as Cid. "Can you please explain why you all decided to start this Royal Rumble?"

"It's my fault, sir," I started. "I went to Jehli and asked why he hated Scott so, and it escalated from there."

"From what I heard, you leveled the cafeteria!" Cid yelled. "Witnesses say you were outnumbered and resorted to using a GF to defeat your attackers."

"I was unaware of the GF building power at the time, sir," I said. "It just sort of released itself."

"That's not a very good excuse, Ms. Trepe," he replied. You knew you were in trouble when he addressed you by your last name. "GF's don't release themselves."

"Nevertheless, sir, it happened." I was trying to maintain my composure. Pressure wasn't my strong point. Scott must have saw this, because he discretely reached over and squeezed my hand. Cid saw, and seemed to get angrier. "Stand at attention, Mr. Wolf!" Scott's hand shot back to his side.

"In all my days, I have never seen a fight so savage, so relentless, so... vicious!" Cid said, trying to regain his composure. "You are all confined to quarters until I say so. There will be no exceptions. I'll decide further punishment later. Squall, return them to their quarters, now."

We all about faced and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind us, Scott and Jehli were toe-to-toe again.

"What's the idea attacking Quistis like that?"

"She was pokin her nose where it didn't belong. Be glad I hadn't cut it off."

"Try it again and I'll cut yours off."

"Keep a better watch on her, and I won't have to mess her up."

It's a good thing Squall had gotten between them. Scott tried to lung at Jehli, who only laughed and entered the elevator.

"That's enough, Scott!" Squall said. "He's not worth it. Besides, you're in enough trouble already. Now get into the elevator."

The ride down was quiet. No one said anything, even after we were all brought to our rooms. Jehli and Jessica were ushered into their room first, then Scott and I were taken to ours. After Squall left to check on everyone else, Scott threw himself on the bed.

"Damn him," he said. "That bastard Jehli. I oughta kick his ass."

"You did, Scott," I said in a soothing voice. "I wonder what Cid's gonna do with us."

"I'll probably get kicked out."

"Cid wouldn't do that," I said, sitting down beside him. "He has faith that you'll become something more than this. He won't stop that."

"I dunno," Scott said as he rolled over to face me. "He was pretty pissed off at us."

"He was mad at me for not controlling the situation. He wasn't very sore at you, but he was mad all the same."

"Well, we've got an undetermined time locked in this room," he said. "What are we gonna do?"

"Well, we've got your CD's and my CD player," I said as I reached under the bed and pulled out my CD player. I grabbed his backpack and, after some digging, pulled out a disk with the words "Korn Issues" on it. The R was backwards. "Tell me about your culture."

"I don't know if you're ready for that one," he said. "Let's try something more beginner."

For hours, we sat and listened to his disks. He explained as best as he could what each song was, and the time flew. Sometime around eight at night, Zell came by with some food for us. After he left and we ate, Scott dug into his pack again and came out with a pack of cards unlike any I'd ever seen. They were the same size as Triple Triad cards, but had symbols and numbers on the face. Some had faces of men and women on them. He explained each card type to me and, after a while, taught me how to play a game called Gin. It was fairly easy once I caught on. Before we knew it, it was midnight. I was tired, and I flopped onto the bed. He flopped down behind me and put his arms around me. We both fell asleep like that.

The next morning, a knock on the door awoke me. Scott rose and answered. Zell and Squall greeted him. I was still half asleep, so I didn't hear much, but I did hear Cid's name a few times. When Scott finally closed the door, he turned to the closet and started to get dressed in his combat gear. I guess he thought I was still asleep. When I stirred, he looked over at me. His face was all serious, and his tone was even more serious.

"Cid's ready for us."

I quickly dressed in my fighting clothes and grabbed my Chain Whip. Scott waited for me outside. I joined him, and we walked to Cid's office. Selphie, Rinoa, and Zell stood outside the office doors. Irvine opened the door from the inside and let us in. Squall stood beside Cid, who was sitting in his chair. Jehli and Jessica were already at attention. We saluted Cid and went to at-ease.

"Now that you're all here, I'll begin," he started. "We received a request for CeeD thirty hours ago. The Shumi Village is under siege from an unknown group. From what they could gather before sealing the village, this isn't a random attack." I was confused, but didn't show it. I thought we were going to be punished. "The group haven't damaged the village yet, limiting their attacks to injuring the Shumi there. There have been no deaths as of yet that we know of. From the request log, all Shumi were accounted for.

"I know you all expected punishment. This is it. Your task is to learn the identity of this new group and, if possible, drive them from the village without killing each other. You will be dropped eighty-five miles from the village to insure that the garden is not discovered. You'll be issued cold-weather gear as well as supplies to last you for three days. Within that time, you will make your way to the mountain north of the village to a secret entrance. It will take you directly into the village, specifically the Artisan's home, assuming it still stands. Complete your mission using your discretion. Quistis Trepe, you are the squad leader."

I was surprised at that. I mean, I knew I would be senior officer on the mission, but I had no leadership abilities. How was I going to plan an assault on an unknown force?

"Do you all understand? Your punishment is to work together. No fighting amongst yourselves. You will be shadowed by a professional CeeD team led by Squall. Should you fail in your mission, they will attack the enemy and do their damnest to finish what you started." I could tell Cid was still mad at all of us. He didn't swear when he was in a good mood.

"Sir," Jehli said, "is there any idea how big the enemy force is?"

"Negative," Squall said, taking over the briefing. "Like you heard before, this is a unknown enemy, so we don't have an estimate as of yet. You will have a radio with your gear, and we will send you any updates as we receive them. Scott will have the radio. You will be in charge of the temp lodgings and Jessica will have the rations. Of course, you all will have emergency ration packs, but they are just that, emergency ration packs. There will be no rationing in the field. There is enough for all of you. No holding back food. Understood?" Jessica gave him a "yes-sir" and nodded.

"Very well," Cid said. "Get moving. Dismissed."

We all saluted, about faced, and marched out of the office. When Scott and Jehli had both set foot out of the room, they began to star each other down, neither one moving for fifteen seconds. Finally, Selphie stepped in.

"Boys please!" she said in her little girl-like voice. "You have a mission to go to, and I don't want either of you to mess it up."

"She's right," Scott said, not turning away from Jehli. "We'd better get moving."

"Yeah," Jehli returned. "Wouldn't want to mess it up, would we?"

"That would be bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

They stared for another few seconds, then turned away from each other and walked away. I caught up with Scott on the way back to our room.

"That went well," I said. "Not as bad as I had expected, but not as good either."

"Yeah," he replied. "I want to get the CD player and a few CD's, just in case we get bored on the way."

"Ok," I said. It was going to be a long trip. Might as well enjoy what we could. Scott grabbed his backpack and threw the CD player in. He next grabbed seven CD cases. I read the titles as he grabbed them and as I got myself ready. Korn, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Chrono Trigger (he said his friend "burned" it for him some time ago), and the others I couldn't read because I turned to lock the closet.

We were ready as we would ever be. After locking the room, we made our way to the front gate where everyone was waiting. Jehli and Jessica were already geared for cold weather. Our stuff was sitting next to Squall. Zell and the rest of the gang were there to see us off. I geared up slower than Scott, who threw everything on top of his clothes. I had to set all my clothing before getting the gear on. When I was ready, Squall handed me a map, wished me luck and stood back. I smiled, then went into action.

"Scott, you've got point, Jessica behind you, then Jehli and me. Move out!"

Jumping form a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act, some one once told me. Obviously, Scott hadn't gotten that speech. He gave me a smile and, after a quick squeeze of the hand, dove off the edge. Jessica hesitated, then jumped. Jehli and I took one look, closed our eyes, and jumped. The feeling was invigorating. You drop some 359 feet or so straight down, and just before you hit the ground, you're supposed to cast a floating spell to cushion the landing. Jessica, Jehli and I all did just that. Scott, on the other hand, dropped straight down, and when he was at about thirty feet, cast Protect on himself. When he landed, the cloud of dirt and snow flew up fifty feet to where we were still floating down. As soon as I touched the ground, I ran to the crater where he had landed. He was slowly climbing out when I arrived.

"Jesus, Scott," I said, or rather shouted. "You could've hurt yourself! I don't want you to ever do that again."

"Easy, Quistis," he replied.

"Don't give me that! We're on an important mission and I don't want anyone to get hurt before it even begins." I looked up towards the garden, but it was already moving out of sight. The sun was beginning to set in the west, and we were in a valley eighty-five miles north-west of the village. "Let's set up camp for the night. We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Scott and Jehli set up the single tent we had in silence. I was thankful that they weren't at each other's throat. Jessica and I got the food, water, and other essential gear in order. Jessica wasn't really a bad person once you got to know her. We talked the whole time we worked. I tried to find out what Jehli had against Scott, but she avoided those questions and changed the subject each time I tried. I finally gave up when we had everything in order. It was getting dark. I ordered everyone into the tent to get some rest.

Night passes slowly when you're excited. I was. Scott was. Even Jessica was. The only one who seemed unaffected was Jehli. He lay down next to Jessica and went right to sleep. It amazed me how men could sleep just about anywhere at any time. It took me hours to find a comfy position next to Scott. I fell asleep some time later. Scott remained awake the whole night. He watched for any wild monsters or unexpected company. None came.

When I awoke the next morning, he wasn't in the tent. I stretched (as much as I could at least, those snow suits don't allow for much movement) and climbed out to the world. Scott was practicing a few meters away. He had his snow gear off, and was swinging his Gunblade this way and that at his imaginary targets. I inhaled the fresh air, and caught a whiff of something delicious. Scott had cooked breakfast, and, judging from the dirty dished, had already eaten.

I grabbed a plate and dished out a portion for myself. Eggs, sausage, and milk. A good way to start a mission. I ate and watched Scott. His movement was fluid, and his technique was great. Having all of us, the Final Fantasy Gang as he nicknamed us, helping and training was an added bonus. He had taken all of the techniques we had shown him, and made his own. He definitely had talent.

Jessica and Jehli arose and joined me. We ate as Scott finished his workout. He got his gear on, and joined us. With breakfast out of the way, we set to the task of clean up, which took relatively no time at all.

"Ok," I said when we were ready. "We'll move twenty miles before we rest, then another twenty. That should take all day to do. Let's get a move on."


	3. Notorious Troubles

**Ultimate Fantasy III:  
****Notorious Troubles**

We're getting closer. I can feel it. The hairs on my neck are getting tense. We're about a mile or so from the secret entrance, and we are ready for everything. So's the group shadowing us. They're not as good as I thought they'd be. Twice in the past two days I spotted their point man. Sometimes I think I'm too good for my own good.

Quistis stopped us when we were within a quarter mile but still out of sight to rest up and prepare. That meant that off with the snow gear, on with the battle attire. We sit for five minutes, not thinking about the hurting cold but of the up-coming battle. The unknown group's observation post is in view, but they can't see us. We're behind a high snow bank. Jehli and Jessica are huddled together, trying to keep warm. Quistis is keeping as close to me as she can, with her arms wrapped around my waist and her head buried in my shoulder. I have my arm draped around her, keeping her as warm as possible.

"Scott," she says quietly. "I hope we can finish this mission. I don't know what'll happen to us if we don't."

"Don't worry," I reply. "They can't do much to hurt us if we stay together."

"You're right, but it still unnerves me. I'm so afraid."

"It's OK. I'm staying with you, no matter what happens. Remember that."

She looks up into my eyes and kisses me. "Thanks. Let's go."

We stand as one, and set ourselves into a ready position. Three, two one... Go! We dash across the snow to where the secret entrance is supposed to be. I hear someone shout, and know we've been spotted. I charge a lightning spell and fire it toward the shouter, blowing him out of his socks. Jehli fires a elemental blast of his own, taking out one of the perimeter guards. Quistis launches a fire spell towards the tower, causing it to catch fire. The men inside never had a chance to jump to safety. Jessica fires a ice spell that hits one of the supports and snapped it in half.

I don't look back to our handy work; the hatch is just ahead. I could see where it is hidden. Quickly I dig it out and open it. I motion for everyone to get in before they get any closer. Jessica dives in first, followed by Quistis. Jehli crawls in next, then I get in, closing, locking, and welding the door shut using a fire spell.

"Ok," I say as I turn to the rest. "Now what?"

"Let's get to the elder's hut," Quistis says. "We'll learn more there."

We set off. It's a short walk, and we make it in no time. The elder's assistant is waiting for us outside the hut.

"Ahh! Welcome," he says as we walk up. "I am so glad you are here. The elder has been waiting patiently. Please, enter."

We do, after he opens the door. It's a bit warmer than I'd like, but I'm not here to comment on the weather. The elder is sitting on his throne, looking very tired, but in good condition for a fight that is sure to come. Quistis steps forward and greets him with a bow. "We are here. What is your need?"

"Quistis!" the elder exclaims, standing up. "It's been too long."

"Indeed it has," she replies. "What is your situation?"

"Upon the initial attack, we lost three Shumi. The artisan was quick enough to lock the

elevator as soon as he heard the weapons fire."

"Any idea who we're up against?" I ask. That was the whole point of coming out here.

"A group identifying themselves as the Regal Renegades," the assistant says. "A group out of Winhill, or so they say."

"Winhill?" Jessica says. "That's a peaceful area. They don't have an army."

"The name is all wrong for a Winhill group, too," Jehli says.

"Well, whoever they are, they chose a fine place to strike," Jessica says.

"Let's go introduce ourselves, eh?" I ask, and everyone agrees. We all head over to the elevator. The Elder unlocks the power cells, and we CeeD enter.

"Good luck to you all," the elder says as the doors close.

"Everyone ready up," Quistis says. "We're going out hot."

She's nervous, I can tell. She's clenching the handle of her Chain Whip like it might get away. I reach over and take her other hand.

"Don't worry," I say. "You'll do fine in this one."

"I haven't commanded in so long," she replies. "I never had leadership abilities.."

"Yes you do," I say. "How do you think we got here so quickly? You led us on the quickest path. Granted path finding isn't a big leadership ability, but it's a step in the right direction."

"Yes, it is," she replies. "But it's a small one."

"Skills aren't acquired quickly, you know. It takes time and experience."

"I'm not sure I can do this... I want you to lead for this attack."

"Me?" I ask, a little surprised. I'd been a leader online back home, when I played Mech Warrior 4, but this is a little different. This is life or death. "Lead? You're the leader here, babe. It's your show. I can't..."

"Just for the attack, Scott. That's all."

"Quistis, I can't lead! I haven't the training!"

"Skills aren't acquired quickly, Scott. It takes time and experience"

"Come on!" I say, shaking my head. "Don't use my own words against me." She's right. I do need leadership experience. "All right, ALL RIGHT! I'll do it."

"Thanks, hon," she says and gives me a quick but meaningful kiss.

"Well, let's go then," I say. "Jehli, take point and vape anything in front of the door as soon as it opens." He doesn't like me giving him an order, but he positions himself. "Jessica, give support. Quistis, take the left flank, I got the right. You two divide the center and give 'em hell."

This is pretty easy. I could feature doing this for a living. Three seconds left... Here we go... two.. one... OPEN!!

Jehli fires a blast of wind and electricity combined, knocking about five bad dudes down. Jessica follows up with a Blizzard, freezing a few fleeing troops and making our job a little bit easier. Quistis and I leap out of the elevator, slashing at anything that survived.

My heart's beating faster to keep up with me. Man, they keep coming, like there's no end. Something catches my eye off to the left... what is that? I fight my way over towards where I thought I saw something. It's just a key. One of the troopers must have dropped it when we came out. Quickly I put it in my pocket, and return to the fight. Quistis is taking on about six bad guys alone. It's not good, but before I can intervene, Ifrit burst out of nowhere and destroys them all before disappearing again. I'm about to congratulate her when I'm tackled from behind. I turn to see who hit me, and I see Jehli standing over me, Gunblade in hand.

"What the hell..." I start.

"It shouldn't come as a big surprise to you, Scott," he says. "I'm obviously on their side."

"Why, man?" I ask as I slowly stand. "What'd they give you? Money? Power? The usual?"

"What they gave me cannot be understood by a _Frelledg_ worm like yourself," he replies, using a word from his native tongue that I have no idea what it means. "Simply know that I have double crossed you."

I look around and see that the fighting has stopped all over. Everyone's watching us. I have a feeling this was planned.

"So, what do we do now? Fight?"

"Exactly. This is our final fight, Wolf."

"Oh. How dramatic. Let me guess. One on one."

"Yes."

"No magic."

"If you prefer."

"Right."

"Ready?"

"If you are."

"Let's begin then."

"Fine."

For a moment, neither of us move, then he dashes toward me, Gunblade pointed directly at my heart. I wait a full second before I react, then I twist my whole body like a bull fighter, and back-hand him on the head. He staggers forward, then turns. I pull my Gunblade to my fighting stance, and await his next move. It's his show, I just control it.

"Fancy moves will not save you this time, Wolf," he says. "It is my Gunblade that will end this."

He dashes again, this time intending to swipe from above. I see the blade begin to fall, and I side-step to the right and dash to a near-by tree, full of snow and ice. I jump to it's strongest branch and crouch there, holding on to the trunk for stability.

"Running away, Wolf?" Jehli taunts. "How un-characteristic of you."

"I can kill you anytime I want, Jehli," I shoot back. "The fact that I haven't should have you thanking God."

"You'll be praying to God for mercy when I'm through," he returns. Jessica is sneaking behind me, hoping to catch me with my guard down. But I don't need my guard up with Quistis in my corner. She uses her Chain Whip to lasso Jessica around the waist and flings her over the hill. A loud thump is heard to tell of her landing. Meanwhile, Jehli has resumed his attack. I jump just before the tree is sliced in half. This time I do thank God for giving me the intuition of a fighter, but I also thank the Final Fantasy gang back on the Garden for training me to be fast enough to use that intuition.

Now it's my turn to attack. I jump into the air and execute a flying kick aimed a his head. He ducks and swings at me, I bring up my Gunblade to meet his. Now it becomes a battle of strength, both of us pushing against the other, struggling to gain the upper hand. Neither of us is successful. I hear an explosion behind me. We break apart then, distracted by the intrusion.

One of the enemy huts has gone up in flames. The CeeD's have decided to bring their talent to the game. Squall leads the charge, slashing his way and meeting heavy resistance, but that doesn't last long as the Mercs break and run. I turn back to Jehli.

"We always get interrupted. We'll meet again, Wolf"

He turns and runs. I give chase, but am stopped by Quistis.

"Let him go, Scott," she says." There will be another time."

"You bet there will be," I say as the last of the Mercs disappear over the hill, chased by professional CeeD. "There will be another time."

The Shumi Village is swept for possible stragglers, and the passage is repaired. Yet I am still uneasy about the result of the operation. True the village is liberated and the Mercs are gone, but we lost two units to the enemy willingly. This might go badly for Quistis. She was team leader for this, so it will be her responsibility. Jehli apparently had planned this for quite some time. Jessica had been a co-conspirator so she left with him. Love'll do that, I guess. Strange, but I'm worried about what will happen to her. I didn't like her, but she was from the garden. As I say this, I'm reminded of what happened when Sifer was "executed" by Galbadia. I wonder if that's what happened with Jehli and Jessica. But they went willingly, so it's different, I guess. Still... I don't know. I don't have time to dwell on it. They want to ask me questions. Time to report in.

I head up to Cid's office, determined to state my case. The elevator seems sluggish and jerky but I don't pay attention. The doors open, and I see Cid sitting behind his desk, Squall to his right. Quistis is at attention in front of them. I walk up next to her and salute Cid.

"Is it bad?" I whisper to Quistis.

"Not yet," she replies.

"Sir," I say to Cid. "Reporting as ordered."

"No order was given, Scott," Cid replies with his usual smile. "It was simply a request to reinforce what Quistis tells us."

"I stand by Quistis' report, then."

"Excellent. Please continue, Ms. Trepe."

"Yes sir," she replies. "Upon Scott's appointment of assault leader, he ordered Jehli to take point and Jessica to give support. I was to follow them, and he would go last."

"Why did you choose this order, Scott?" Squall asks.

"It was actually spur-of-the-moment, sir. I just came up with an order based on what I knew of our power. Jehli would be a good starter, and Jessica could support if he needed it. Quistis was lined up to push the charge, and I would clean up."

"Hmmm..." Cid says. "Continue, Ms. Trepe."

"After our egress from the elevator, we split up to cover a wider area. Scott went to the left area, Jessica and Jehli took the center, I took the right but was forced to the center by heavy weapons fire, and let Jessica take my area. Suddenly, the battle stopped. Every one of the enemy troops turned toward the left area. A battle had started there between Scott and Jehli. Scott was on the defensive when I arrived. I don't remember the exact nature of the battle, but I was forced to remove Jessica from the area. That is when the other team arrived."

"Is all of this accurate, Mr. Wolf?" Cid asks.

"Yes sir," I reply. "To the word."

"Why did a team member attack you?"

"At first, I thought it had been a misdirection of magic. But when I realized who it was, I knew it was no mistake. Jehli has had it in for me ever since I arrived. I guess he saw a chance somewhere during the course of our training, and set up this siege to ensure that we'd have a clean fight. He probably didn't count on Jessica or Quistis to be included, nor did he predict a second team being sent. But before he could alter his plan, we were already under way."

"Very interesting," Squall says.

"Indeed it is," Cid replies. "Unexpected, and unfortunate. Because of his problem with Scott, we've lost two students. I seriously hope he doesn't turn out like Seifer."

"Neither do I," Squall says. "But we'll talk about that later. Right now we have to deal with them." He points at us to be sure we know who he's talking about. Not an angry, accusing point, but more of a gesture.

"Yes, yes. Of course." Cid rises from his chair. "Scott Wolf. Step forward."

I step forward, but a little voice inside me cries out, "Eep!"

"Scott Wolf, for your actions during this operation, we hereby congratulate you on your graduation. The operation in question had been deemed a test by myself, Squall, and Zell Dincht, who was questioned on his opinion of your performance during training."

I almost let out a yell of joy, but am able to contain it in the form of a great smile. I look to Quistis, and see that she's smiling too.

"Furthermore," Cid continues, "we are putting your CeeD rank at Five for your judgment, responses to action, and your ability to control yourself in the face of betrayal. Congratulations! I'm glad to have yet another Gunblade expert."

"Thank you, sir," I am able to reply.

"Quistis Trepe, stand next to the new member," he says, and she obeys. "Quistis Trepe, for your actions during this operation, we award you with the title of Squad Leader, and raise your CeeD rank from 12 to 15. Congratulations!"

She takes hold of my hand and thanks Cid graciously. I can tell that she's very happy, and I'm happy for her.

"Good job, both of you. Dismissed."

"Did you hear that??" Quistis says when we're safely outside the office.

"Yeah!" I reply. "You get promoted and I get accepted!!"

"Let's go celebrate!" Quistis says. "We're going to dock at Fisherman's Horizon. We'll go have some fun!"

"You guys mind if the rest of us join?"

We look over and see the whole gang standing there.

"It wouldn't be much of a celebration without your friends, eh?" Zell says.

"It's not a party without me," Irvine says.

"I can set up the music!" Selphie chimes in.

"I'll handle the lights," Rinoa says.

"Whoa whoa!" Squall says from behind us. "It's not a gigantic event. It's a celebration. We'll all go to the local bar and have some drinks. Loud music is just a bonus."

"That sounds fun," Zell says, and everyone else agrees. Don't want to over do it, like Selphie wanted.

"I'm all for it," I say.

"Me too," Quistis adds.

"Alright!" Zell says. "We'll arrive tomorrow morning."

"Zell?"

We all turn to see his girlfriend from the library. I never learned her name before.

"Hey, Sherry," Zell says. "Party tomorrow. You goin?"

"If you're there, I'm there," Sherry says. "Count me in."

"Alright! I knew I could count on you," Zell says.

The party wasn't much more than the eight of us. Plenty of drinks, plenty of music, plenty of fun to be had. Nothing really happened at the party though. Just some toasting, some "Problems-of-the-World" solving, the basic getting drunk routine. I won't put any of it because it's mostly a blur.

I woke up in Quistis' arms the next morning with a major headache. Climbing out of bed, I notice two things: 1. I am without clothes and 2. so is Quistis. Trying to remember what happened, I stagger over to the bathroom and dampen my face to clear my head. The last thing I can remember is getting into a drinking contest with Squall, Zell, Irvine, Quistis and the bartender (the bartender won... I think). Next thing to go through my mind is will Quistis remember? Or worse, will she be mad? We were in love, but we were also drunk. Her more so, if I remember right. I turn back to the room and she is awake.

"Morning," she says cheerily. Apparently, she either doesn't know or remember last night, or she wanted it to happen.

"Um..." I stammer. "Do you remember any of last night?"

"You were so wonderful to me," she replies with a wicked smile. "But that's last night. Today, you start as a CeeD. You're doing it for money now."

Instantly, I feel better. She did know, she did want it that way. I just wish I could remember any of it. I dress along with her, admiring her body as it is slowly covered. Soon we're ready to go. My headache is still there, but I'll get some aspirin from Doctor Kadowaki later. Right now we have to get to work.

A quick kiss before we open the door and we're on our way. We walked hand in hand down to the cafeteria for breakfast. It was pancakes. Tasty. After breakfast, we headed over to the library and found Squall and Rinoa together. We walk up and say hi.

"Hey guys," Rinoa said. "How you feelin, Scott?"

"Not so bad," I reply with a smile. "But my head feels like it's split open. I hate hangovers."

"You did drink alot last night," Squall said. "Don't make a habit of it."

"Don't worry, I won't. What's on tap for today?"

"Let's see," Squall said as he searched through a folder he had with him. "Uh... Here! Here's one from Delling City." I noticed Rinoa slightly flinch at the city's name. President Caraway is her father, but she ran away from home to join Squall. "There's a foreign Prime Minister in town tomorrow. They want us to bodyguard him for two days."

"Boring," Quistis said. "What else?"

"Not much else. There's a Fishing Expo in Balamb, a TV show wants to interview some CeeD, some request for a ruling in Timber, and another Bodyguard job in Esthar."

"I've always wanted to see what Esthar was like in person," I said. "Who's the job for?"

"It doesn't say."

"Well, what do ya say, Quistis?" I asked. "Shall we grace Esthar with our presence?"

"Well, OK," she replied, "But only because you want to."

"I'll ready the Ragnarok for you," Rinoa said and left with Quistis.

"Man, she's quite a girl," I said as I watched them leave.

"Yeah," Squall said next to me. "She keep you up last night?"

"I think so. Can't remember. Never let me drink that much again. I want to remember the fun."

"Both you and Quistis were pretty toasted," Squall commented. "She's a happy drunk, and, if I remember right, you're almost the same."

"Yeah, I know," I say. "One of these days you'll have to tell me what happened yesterday."

"No problem."

"Speaking of last night," I say, turning to look him in the eye, "how did our fearless leader fair?"

"Bout the same as you," he replied with a smile, "except less drunken."

"Figures. You're able to remember it."

"Indeed. Well," he said, getting back to the mission, "here's everything you need. Clearance to land at the air station, you're contact's name and location..."

"Any passwords?"

"Not this time. Also, I have a side mission for you. I need you to go to the Lunar Gate and ask if they have that report on the Moon Monsters yet."

"Done. Could you get Mad Cat loaded onto the Ragnarok? It'll save money on a rental. Plus it gets much better mileage than any of their cars."

"Done. Good luck," he said with a salute. I returned it, and we both walked out to the Quad. Squall pulled a tech aside and asked him to get my SUV loaded onto the forward hold. The tech rushed off to comply.

Rinoa and Quistis were in the cockpit, readying all of the ship's systems and sub-systems. They were giggling when we ascended on the elevator from the passenger deck.

"What's so funny?" Squall demanded in a mock commanders voice.

"Nothing," both girls said in a whinny voice.

"Everything's ready," Quistis said.

"Good you release in ten," Squall said, now back to business. "They're loading Scott's 'Mad Cat' right now."

"You're bringing that pile of junk along?" Rinoa asked.

"Hey, that's my pile of junk," I replied. "And it's in perfect running condition."

"OK," Rinoa said. "We're gonna disembark now. Have a good mission." She pulled Squall to the elevator and waved as it descended.

"You're bringing that pile of junk along?" Quistis said.

"It's my pile of junk, and it does run perfectly. Mostly."

"It's you're car," she said, and returned to her duties.

I took a seat in the pilot's seat and pulled the appropriate switches. My advanced CeeD training had included piloting lessons from Selphie, who was normally the pilot. The main engines came online and idled. The display came up on the HUD. It was as ready as it had ever been. The techs outside signaled that all loading was complete. I flashed a thumbs up, and hit the button to close the cargo door. After fastening my safety belt and making sure Quistis did the same, I pulled the Gripper control lever to the "release" position, pushed the Arm control lever forward to "retracted," threw the engines into reverse, and eased the throttle up. Slowly, the ship came back until the nose was clear of the grounds. I adjusted direction accordingly, put it into forward, and accelerated into the sky.

In the game, a trip from Fisherman's Horizon would have taken about thirty seconds. Unfortunately, reality and games, as usually things are, were two completely different things. The trip was going to take three hours.

"Three hours??" I exclaimed.

"Yup," Quistis replied. "Three hours, give or take."

"Man, that's a long trip."

"We were out in the middle of the ocean, you know. It's not like your game."

"I know, I know. I'm affirmed of that daily."

"You're the one who wanted to go."

"Sure, blame me because I suggested it."

Quistis laughed at that, and went back to monitoring. I set the auto-pilot, and stretched."So, what are we gonna do for three hours?"

"Let's just relax and watch the world go by," Quistis replied.

"Works for me," I said.

"Me too."


	4. Spirit Within

**Ultimate Fantasy**

**Spirit Within**

Esthar was alot farther than I had thought

Esthar was a lot farther than I had thought. It really took three and a half hours. About five minutes away, the radio lit up. "This is Esthar Aerostation Control calling incoming ship. Please identify, over?"

I hit the send switch and spoke clearly into the mic. "Roger, control. This is the Ragnarok out of Balamb Garden, ID number 10047-02, en route to land at your station for a mission, over?"

"Uh.. wait one... OK, Ragnarok, you're clear for landing. President Laguna is on the way to the pad. He'll meet you just when you land. Have a good one."

"Roger control. Much obliged. Out." With that I turned off the radio. "Laguna, huh? Must be a big one."

"Yeah," Quistis replied. "He doesn't usually meet us at the pad. This could be bad."

"Hope not," I said as I banked to the left and made a pass over the entire city. It was almost as I imagined it would be: Lots of illuminated buildings, translucent walkways, people dressed funny, the works. Cars drove across various overhangs. I could tell I was going to have lots of fun, given the chance. I spotted the pad and vectored in. As I came in for landing, I saw a middle-aged man standing on the edge of the landing area. Tall, long hair, and wearing an islander shirt, it must have been Laguna. I didn't see Kiros or Ward though. It struck me as odd, but I was too busy to think about it for too long. I lowered the landing gear, and throttled down until I felt the bump of the landing. I killed the engines, stretched and said, "That was way too easy."

"Quit showing off and get your car out there," Quistis said.

"Yessir!" I said, snapping off a salute and headed back towards the elevator. It took me a total of five minutes to unhook the truck. They had bolted it down tightly, but had left a wrench so I could undo the nuts. Needless to say, Quistis was already talking to Laguna when I pulled out.

"Scott!" Quistis called. "I'm taking the limo. You follow us, ok?"

"Ok, no problem," I replied. The limo moved fairly quickly, and I was glad to have the chance to see how well my work held up. I must admit, it was excellent work. Steering was a bit tight, brakes a little loose, the clutch was salvaged from one of the others, and it slipped sometimes, but it was a good vehicle. When we got to the city's center, we all got out and entered the building. I told the people taking the limo away to leave my SUV right where it was. They gave me an irritated look, but left the truck alone.

Laguna led us up to the top floor and into his office. Quistis sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk while I stood behind her. Laguna sat down in a big, comfy looking chair on the other side.

"Well, now," he said as he eyeballed me from head to toe. "New cadet?"

"No," Quistis said. "He's a full CeeD, Laguna, and I'll hear no more about him being new."

"Easy, Quistis," Laguna said, putting his hands out. "Just gettin a first impression, that's all. Fine looking man, too. Strong."

"Thanks," I said. "Now to business."

"Ahh, yes. Your job. Very simply, you'll escort a derelict from Timber here for a meeting."

"What kind of meeting?" Quistis asked. "I can't say at this time. But, believe me, it is a friendly one." He leaned back in the chair and nearly fell out, catching himself at the last moment. "Damnit, where are Kiros and Ward when I need them to tell me not to do stupid stuff?"

"Who's the person we're escorting?" I asked.

"A very cool man named Jonathan Medernich and his family. They're coming here to rest as well as to talk business. You'll stay with them for two weeks."

"That long?" I asked. "Why does he need a guard? Is he in danger?"

"No. Well, a little. He's the one who pushed for the Sorceress Edea's removal from the Planetary council all those years ago." The Planetary council was supposed to deal with international troubles years ago. From what I heard, most were from Edea. When Edea had been removed, she took revenge on the council by destroying the council building and all in it. This Medernich had been away at the time, raising a family from what I heard. Anyway, He survived, and the council was done for. So he headed out to Timber and began a project there to get the television station working. He almost did it, but was cut from the project five years before it came back online. Since then, he's played ambassador to every country. So I could see why he was a target.

"He arrives in a day or so. You have free time until then. Enjoy the city, and everything's on me. All the shop owners know who you are; they'll let you have anything you want. No charge."

"You're too kind, Laguna," Quistis said. "We'll see you when the derelict arrives."

"Cool, girl, cool. See you later then!"

We left the building, and decided to go to dinner at the best restaurant the city had. We took the truck, and drove a few blocks to Che Estar. French-style food, French-style accents, lots of rude waiters. It was very expensive, but Laguna did say it was on him, so we indulged a little. The food was delicious, whatever it was. I had let Quistis choose our meal.

After dinner, we drove all around the city. There were more lights than New York and Las Vegas combined. We had a blast. We found a Karaoke Bar in the northern area, and I got her to sing Eyes On Me. It was beautiful. After that, a little business. We went to a shop and bought a few potions, some ether, and a tent. It was late when we returned to the mansion. We had both had a wonderful time. We fell asleep in each other's arms, but were awakened early by a messenger. I answered the door.

"What is it?" I said.

"Sorry to wake you, sir," he said. "But the derelict is arriving. Mayor Laguna wants you to meet him at the aerostation."

"We're there. Thanks." The messenger bowed and left. "Time to get to work, Quistis."

"Already?" she said as she stretched out on the bed. "I'm still tired and in need of your touch."

"I bet, but we have work to do today."

"You're right, but I don't have to like it."

I smiled as I donned my gloves and Gunblade. Quistis stood, grabbed her Chain Whip, and attached it to it's hook on her belt. We left the room together and, after a bit of driving, got to the airstation right as the ship was landing. It looked a little like the Ragnarok, but it didn't have the arms or the snarling face on the nose, and it was completly blue. It landed smoothely, and the hatch opened with a hiss of air.

The man who came down looked very professonal, in a business suit and carrying a briefcase. The woman who followed was fairly pretty. The marrying type. The two children tugging at her dress were cute as well.

Quistis met them at the bottom of the ramp. "Greetings Mr. Medernich. My name is Quistis Trepe, and this is Scott Wolf. We're your escorts until your business is completed."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Trepe. Please call me Jonathan. I don't like formalities."

Smiling, she replied, "Then you can call me Quistis."

"It is nice to meet you two, Scott."

"Likewise," I replied. "You have a beautiful wife and cute children."

"Oh, forgive me for not introducing them," he said, turning towards them. "This is Charlene, my wife, and my children, Jules and Robert."

"Very nice to meet you both," Charlene said.

"Well, if you will all walk this way, we'll head over to the Mayor's place," I said, motioning, to the truck.

"I apologize for the terrible transportation," Quistis said quickly, "but we had no idea you would arrive so early this morning, and had no time to arrange better. I'm afraid you'll have to use Scott's 'junk bucket' for the time being."

I gave her a quick glare, but let the comment slide. I only hoped she was joking. We all walked to the truck and I opened the back seat doors for the girls, let the children jump into the cargo area, and had Jonathan up front. When everyone was in, we started off.  
We hadn't gotten more than thirty feet when all hell broke loose.

An explosion about ten feet ahead forced me to slam on the brakes. I looked around quickly to see where it had come from, and saw a man on the catwalk above reloading an RPG launcher.

"Crap! Everyone hang on!" I shouted as I threw it into reverse and gunned the engine. The second rocket hit a few feet from where we had sat. I raced back to the last intersection we had crossed, slammed on the brakes while cutting the wheel left causing us to 180, then threw it into first gear and jammed on the gas. No sooner did I complete the maneuver, when another car appeared behind us. Another man was hanging out the window, holding a sub-machine gun and firing in our direction.

"All important people and their families, please get down!" I shouted as I changed gears rapidly. The man wasn't very good at aiming, but he did get lucky as I felt impacts on the rear door. Thank god I had reinforced it when I found the door.

I swerved as much as I possibly could to avoid the gunfire and traffic, but I wasn't getting much distance between us. No matter what I did, the guy kept up with me.

"Quistis, this is getting very annoying," I said calmly." Would you please handle it?"

"On it," she said back.

"You people do this often?" Jonathan asked from where he was bent over.

"First time for everything," I replied as Quistis leaned out her window, charged a spell, and released it towards the car. It was hit with a bolt of lightning, and exploded. I heard the children shout in joy as they watched the fireball climb to the sky. I was about to shout myself, when Quistis yelled a warning that there were personal hover craft rapidly approaching.

"How far?"

"Not very!" she replied. "About 150 feet and closing quick!"

"Time to try some of those 'modifications' I made," I said as I pushed a button on the steering wheel. On the roof, a hatch was opening and Surface to Air Missiles were raising up into view. The middle of the dashboard slid aside, and a monitor popped up.

"Jonathan, when you hear the tone and see a red circle around the nearest hover craft, would you be a pal and hit the red button twice? I'm a little busy driving."

"Uh, sure," he said as he rested his finger over the button. Beeping could be heard, followed by a tone, then the swish-swish and smoke as he pushed the button twice and loosed two SAMs. Both were on target, and the hover craft blew apart. He whooped in celebration, but quieted when he looked at the monitor again. Five more were coming in. He again waited for the tone twice, fired four times, and obliterated two more. The enemy was down to three, but we were out of missiles. Calmly, I hit another button. The launcher rack retracted, and another hatch opened to reveal a small heavy machine gun. Another hatch opened above the seat behind me.

"Quistis, man the gun!" I shouted over the noise of enemy gunfire and missiles. she stood up on the seat, gripped the handles, and opened fire. Her first few shots went wide, but her next burst caught the lead pilot in the chest, making him fall out of the hover craft, which promptly crashed. The other two avoided her fire. I looked up and saw a tunnel, up ahead. I yelled at Quistis to get back in, and when she safely was, I retracted the gun and closed the hatch. I then reached over to the stick shift, flipped the top up, and pushed the blue button it had concealed. The truck got a sudden burst of speed, and rocketed though the tunnel entrance. The hover craft attempted to follow, but were a little big for the entrance and collided with the walls and each other, crashing to the ground.

"Whew," I said as I let off the speed. "That was close. Every one ok?" Every one was, so we proceeded to the Mayor's Mansion.

At the mansion, we escorted the Medernich family to Laguna's office, where we found him with his head buried in his arms. Very calmly, we all entered and sat on the couches while Jonathan took a chair in front of the desk. In an official tone, I said loudly, "Sir, your five o'clock is here."

Laguna bolted upright and, seeing Jonathan and his family in our care, gave a yell of joy. "I KNEW you'd make it! I just KNEW it!"

"Take it easy, Laguna," Jonathan said. "I was under these two fine people's protection."

"And CeeD is the best there is," Quistis chimed in.

"Well, let's get to business," Laguna said. "Would you two wait outside?"

"Yessir," Quistis said. "Come on, wolfman."

"Ya Volt!" I replied, and followed her out.

When we were out with the door closed, she pulled me to a corner and started kissing me.

"I actually had fun," she said after a breath, "when we were being chased back there"

"Glad you did," I replied.

They were in there for almost two hours, and I was getting bored. The doors swung open just when I was about to express my boredom. Jonathan and Laguna walked out, followed by his family.

When Quistis inquired to the problem, Laguna simply answered, very seriously, "Follow us."

We walked some distance to a large room with computers everywhere and a huge monitor in the center. It was a war room, I could tell right off. People were walking back and forth, carrying clipboards, technical manuals, charts, and other things that looked important. The screen was blank except for a little blinking light in the corner, to notify it was standing by I guess.

"Wow.." I said in amazement. "Never saw this in the game..."

"Excuse me?" Laguna asked.

"Er, nothing," I replied quickly.

"What game?" Jonathan asked. He had obviously me clearly.

"Uh..." I stammered, but Quistis came to my rescue. "He's too much into games. Probably associated this mansion with one of the levels in a game of his."

Jonathan gave me a weird look but didn't press the question. I breathed deep in relief, and nodded to Quistis in thanks. She mouthed back, "You owe me another," and winked. Somehow I knew paying her back wouldn't be too terrible.

"Bring up sector 37, in the alpha containment zone," Laguna ordered to a tech who now stood at the controls of the monitor. I didn't know what he meant at the moment, but when the monitor flickered to life and showed the entire planet and moon, I started to get the idea. The screen focused on the moon, zoomed in, and clarified the picture. What I saw was amazing. Millions of dots were milling about, making it look like a red blob.

Laguna ordered the tech to zoom in, and soon I was starring at millions of monsters. I had seen this before, back home when I played the game. Back then, it was just an in-game movie. It was much more ominous in real life.

"Jesus, you're right John," Laguna said.

"The moon monsters?" Quistis asked.

How soon will they be coming down?" Laguna asked.

"A weeks time, maybe less."

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked. I had taken everything the Garden's Training area had to offer and chewed it up. Those monsters made the Garden look like a newborn baby's rattle. I definitely wasn't sure I was ready for even one of those things.

"I'm afraid not," Jonathan replied. "They're coming, and this time it's for keeps."

"We've got to get back to the Garden and warn Squall," Quistis said.

"He was wondering about those things as well," I said. "This'll be some report."

"We have to move quickly then," Jonathan said when his young son Jules ran over and gripped his leg like a tree climber on a redwood. He picked him up and continued. "If we're to defend against this new threat, we need to have everyone as ready as possible. I'll go with you to your Garden."

"I'll go too," Laguna said. "Kiros and Ward got back while you were picking up

Jonathan. They'll see to the safety of the city and it's people." He lifted his comm and spoke into it as Jonathan said, "Is your Garden capable of stealth?"

"I don't know," Quistis replied. I tuned everything out, and starred at the growing mass of monsters. I was so attuned to the scene that I didn't notice little Robert standing next to me. He startled me when he said, "Are those bad guys?"

I caught my breath and said, "Yeah, they are."

"Will daddy be able to stop them?"

"I don't know," I said, looking down at him. "But I plan to help."

"I wanna help too," he said.

"Oh really? Well, then. Go help your mother by staying with her. She looks the scaredest of everyone here."

"Ok," he said and rushed over to Charlene, who really did look extremely unnerved.

"Scott," Quistis said, getting my attention. "Go prep the Ragnarok for launch."

"I'm gone." I said and ran out the door. I rushed to my truck, and hopped in. I was startled by the passenger door opening and Robert climbing in next to me. "And where do you think you're going?"

"My mommy said she was ok and said I could go with you," he replied as he closed the door.

"Well," I said, as I closed my own door, "I guess you can come too then. Be sure to put your safety belt on." He was secure by the time I got the engine into gear and raced toward the aerostation.

There were no troubles getting there, and after flashing my ID to the guard there, drove it straight into the Cargo hold. Not taking the time to bolt it down, I jumped out, grabbed the now unbelted Robert, and ran to the cockpit. After setting him down in the copilot's chair, I started the pre-flight warm-up. Robert went to push the arm weapons button, but I caught his arm, saying, "Don't touch anything, ok? It's dangerous. I'll let you push buttons in a little while."

He was a little angry, but said ok and pulled his arm back. I finished, and headed back toward the Cargo hold with Robert following. "What'cha gonna do now?" he asked.

"Now, I have to secure my car. Wanna help?" I replied.

"OK, but I'm prolly not strong enough."

"Nah," I said. "You look just strong enough."

By the time we had the truck secured, Quistis had arrived with everyone. Charlene walked right over to me and asked if he had been too much trouble. "Not at all," I said. "I like kids."

"Everything ready?" Quistis asked.

"Pre-flight's done," I replied.

"Good. I'll escort our guests to the passenger deck, and meet you up there."

I headed up into the cockpit again, and strapped in. I looked outside at the tech, who was waving the all-clear signal. I gave him a thumbs up, and closed the cargo hatch. After Quistis arrived and strapped in, I lifted off, pointed the nose in the drection of the Garden, which was still docked at FH the computer said, and accelerated over the city.

Once again, the ride was three hours long. It was boring, so I went down to he Cargo hold, and did a check-up on the truck. Running like a top, as I suspected. I was closing the hood, when I heard a small cough behind me. I turned and was not surprised to see little Robert standing there.

"What's on your mind, little man?" I asked.

"Nothin," he replied, scratching his arm.

"Nothin? There's gotta be something running around up there."

He shrugged and walked over to lean on the truck. Looking up at me and not seeing a disapproving look, he folded his arms and tried to look like a tough guy. He wasn't very good at it. I walked to the back of the truck, opened it and pulled out an old ice chest I had in there. "Want a soda?" I asked. He nodded once, still trying to be a toughie. I threw a can to him. He tried to catch it, dropped it, picked it up again, and gave me a look of "I meant to do that." Opening a can for myself, I said, "You might want a fresh one. Those get temperamental when they're dropped."

"I can handle it," he said, just before popping the top. As expected, the fizz of the soda shot out and hit him in the face. Undeterred but soaked, he drank the soda in one shot.

"Well, ain't you tough?" I said as I tossed him a towel to wipe off with.

"Tough enough," he said. He wiped himself clean, and tossed it back to me. I walked over next to him, crouched down, and leaned back against the truck. This position put me just barely shorter than him.

"So," I said, looking straight ahead. "What's your beef?"

"My what?"

"Beef," I explained. "Your problem."

"I ain't got no problems," he said, with some arrogance.

"Sure you don't," I said and took a drink off my soda. "But if you did, what would they be?"

"It would be my daddy, I think."

"How so?"

"He's been really busy lately, and he hasn't had time to play."

"Ahh.." I said thoughtfully. "All work and no play... I can see where you're bothered. I'm sure you understand that he's got alot of problems to work on." He nodded. "And sometimes his work can get to be so much he spends his playtime finishing it, right?" He nodded again. "Well, that's the way of the world. Sometimes work is more important than fun. Hey, I'm a CeeD, and I know what it is to have to work." I was lying and I knew it, but I had to say something to give him contrast. "Us CeeD give up all our free time to protect who we're told to. Me 'n Quistis aren't supposed to have any fun while we're with you guys. How do you think I feel?"

"If you have to give up your free time, how come you became a CeeD then?" he asked.

I had to think for a minute. What was the real answer? I knew I originally had just wanted to be a hero. But after a while, the hero-seeking part of me vanished. Now I truly didn't know why I had become CeeD. To fight? To be someone? For recognition, and if so, from whom?

I finally looked to Robert and said, "I joined because it was the right thing to do. I wanted to help people who needed help. I wanted to belong."

"Belong where?" he asked, confused.

"I wanted to belong somewhere, to have a place where I could fit in and... be needed." I had paused because I noticed Quistis standing near the back of the truck.

"You wanted to be important?"

"Not exactly," I said, looking pass him at Quistis. She just stood there with a smile on her face. I looked back at Robert and said, "I wanted to be a hero when I first started, but, eventually, I wanted to help people. I still want to be a hero, but now, after I've had all the training, I realized it's not about being a hero."

"It isn't?"

"Nope. It's about doing what has to be done. That's what your daddy does."

"Oh.." he said. "So if he doesn't..."

"If he doesn't, who will?"

He was quiet for a moment, starring at the floor. then he said, "No one."

"Right. He does it because he thinks no one else will."

"I think I understand. I'm still a little mad, but I know he does it because he has to."

"Good. You want another cold one?" I asked as I stood up.

"No thanks," he said. "I'm gonna go back to the others now."

"Ok," I said. He said bye and left. Quistis walked over to me, put her arms around me, and gave me a deep kiss. "Who says we can't have fun?"

"No one," I said.

"Well, right now we can't," She said pulling back a bit but not out of reach. "Laguna and Jonathan are ready to give a report to Squall. We're about an hour and a half away from the Garden. I want you to be ready to report too."

"Ok, hun," I said. "I'll be ready.

"Good," she said, drawing near again, a wicked smile on her face. "We have an hour and a half till we touch down, and everyone's busy forward of us. What are we gonna do?"

"Well, there is the matter of paying you back..."


	5. Seventh Seal

**Ultimate Fantasy  
****The Seventh Seal**

The trip was almost over. Just another thirty minutes more. It was three o'clock in the morning. Quistis had the night shift, and was gonna wake up Scott in another fifteen minutes. For now, he was sleeping in the pilot's chair of the Ragnarok airship, kind of curled up in the seat.

_He's so cute when he sleeps like that_, she thought to herself. He had good reason to be tired. The whole day had been a screw job. From being woken up early all the way to having to rush back to Balamb Garden, it was just a nightmare. The day before had been more fun. She had liked being out on the town with the government paying the tab. She made a note to do it again sometime.

Leaning back in her seat, she looked out into the dark morning sky. It was a sight she would never get tired of. Nothing but clear sky. They were flying low to the ocean surface to disrupt any radar they might come across. At 75 feet, the water flew by at unimaginable speed.

Quistis stretched her arms above her and yawned. _When we get to the garden, I'm going strait to bed_, she told herself. It wouldn't be too long before she had her soft bed back, and her favorite man laying next to her. She never got tired of him. It's what happens when you fall in love she figured. Even now, with him comatose next to her in the most advanced machine known to man, she savored his company. It was like his just being there, awake or asleep, was enough to calm her nerves. She still didn't understand it, but was glad it was there. Was glad he was there.

She looked out onto the sea once again. It was clear. She was about to look away when she spotted a dark shape on the water. She squinted as it got closer. It was long, with an oblong head, and it came out of the water a good 100 feet. She was about to wake Scott up, when the ship suddenly jolted to a stop. It was hard enough to wake the whole ship. Scott was thrown forward onto the controls.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"Something's got us," Quistis replied. "It's big, whatever it is."

"Great..." Scott grumbled as he worked the controls. He continued to grumble as he set the ship to full hover to keep it from being pulled down. "Damn monster grabs my ship, slams my sleepy ass to the floor, waking me up... It'd better have a death wish.."Despite the situation, Quistis had to smile. No matter how bad it got, he was always ready with a joke or a funny comment. It was how he kept himself in check. She had tried something like that herself, but it never helped her.

When Scott had finished, he hit the intercom button to the passenger's area, and said, "Better stay belted in. We're in for a ruff ride." Turning back to the controls, he looked up and saw what was holding them. A gigantic tentacle with what he guessed to be sucction cups on the underside. Taking stock of the ship, he learned it to be several tentacles gripping the Ragnarok. Bringing up a downward camera on his HDD, he saw a very large squid floating on the surface.

"Great, he said again. "We got bait hanging onto us."

Quistis took a look at his monitor, then returned to her controls. "We can't break free. It's weight is keeping us down, and our thrusters are starting to overheat."

"We can't drop into the water either. That'll give it the advantage," Scott said thoughtfully. "We'll have to cut our way free." Reaching over for the Gripper arms release, he pushed the lever into loose position. After donning two wire laced gloves, he switched on the Waldo Control System. This was relatively new to the ship. It had been installed just before he graduated. When he moved his hands, the Grippers would mimic the move outside. Using his HDD, Scott proceeded to pull at the tentacles. Quistis meanwhile turned on the radio and tried to get help.

"This is the Ragnarok 300 miles east of Fisherman's Horizon. Repeat, this is the Ragnarok 300 miles east of FH to any ships in the area. We need assistance. There is a rather large sea monster holding us in place and threatening to drag us under. We are attempting to remove it's tentacles, but we would still like the help of anyone with a cutter attachment."

"Roger that," said the speaker. "This is airship Pomp and Constance about 137 miles south of you. We are turning towards you, ETA six minutes. Can you hold?"

Relieved, Quistis replied, "We're gonna have to, P&C. We have no other choice."

"Understood. We'll be there soon. Hang tight."

"We have help inbound," Quistis said to Scott, who was busy swinging his hands about.

"The damn thing's trying to get the Grippers," he said. "That help had better get here quick.." Just then, the right arm snapped from the pressure being put on it by one of the tentacles. The left one was ripped completely out moments later. Laguna ran up behind Scott after coming up on the elevator.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We've got a serious problem," Scott said. "A monster has decided to turn us into lunch." As he said that, the ship lurched to the right. Scott grabbed at the control stick and jerked it to the right as Quistis and Laguna grabbed onto whatever they could to stay upright. "Damnit.. I gotta go out there," he said when he had steadied the ship. "I need to cut those tentacles away or we're not goin anywhere."

"No," Quistis said. "You can't go out there, you'll be killed."

"I'm the only one here with a blade, Quistis," Scott replied. "I'll be OK, I promise."

Before she could say anything, the ship lurched again, this time making groaning sounds. The hull was buckling under the strength of the monster. Leaving Quistis to right the ship, Scott took off for the top hatch. Quistis called for him to come back, but he was already on the elevator, heading down. It took him but a few minutes to get to the upper decks. The creaking and groaning of metal under stress got louder as he got closer. Popping the hatch, he climbed out and assessed the situation: about five tentacles, no more than four feet thick, with large pads at the ends. Drawing his Gunblade, he went to work, hacking and slashing at the closest tentacle. It reluctantly gave way and withdrew underneath the ship. Scott gave a quick yip of victory, but was almost thrown off by another lurch. Steadying himself, he decided to save the victory cries for after they were free.

The second and third tentacle went with a little less trouble. By now he was standing above the cockpit. Quistis watched from below as he attacked the fourth tentacle. It gave rather quickly. Scott looked down and gave a short wave. Quistis smiled, but the smile faded when she saw the tentacle arc back towards Scott. She gave a yell of warning, but was too late. The pad struck him in the upper body, sending him flying. He went over the edge of the ship, struck the water and disappeared. Quistis gave a cry of grief, grabbed the controls and throttled forward full. The last tentacle, not being strong enough it hold by itself, released the ship.

Quistis angled it toward the ocean and searched for Scott. She didn't dare go into the water with the big ugly still around. She saw no sign of him. She did see the monster coming back. Laguna, seeing that she wasn't about to give up looking, grabbed the controls and pulled it up away from the water. Quistis grabbed for the controls, crying that he was still down there, but after a few attempts finally stopped trying. She put her face in her hands and just cried.

"There's nothing we can do," Laguna yelled over her crying. He pulled her out of the seat and took her place. Throttling up, he angled for FH. The ship that had responded radioed if they still needed help. Laguna, seeing that Quistis wouldn't be useful for a while, answered no, but there's a body in the water back there. He asked if they could look for it. The other ship said they'd try.

Scott slowly was coming around. He had been knocked unconscious when he hit the water. Right now, he was chained to a rack of some kind. As he took stock of himself, he opened his eyes. He looked around, confused, then noticed the figure starring at him. He wore a long grey overcoat that was extremely tattered at the bottom. His black pants were also riddled with holes. His shirt was the only piece of clothing that looked intact. He was holding a black Gunblade against his shoulder in a relaxed position. But the most striking thing Scott noticed was the scar on his forehead.

"Seifer…" Scott said, or rather tried to say. It was more of a dry, hoarse croak.

"So, you know me, eh?" Seifer said. He stepped closer. "Good. That means you know how bad I can be."

"Oh, yeah," Scott replied. "You're a real tough customer."

"You have NO idea!" Seifer yelled, putting the Gunblade to Scotts throat. "I make bad look good."

"Then why am I still here?" Scott asked. "What do you want?"

"From you?" Seifer laughed. "I want nothing from you! Everything I need I have at my fingertips. You are nothing to me."

"Then why am I here?"

"Very simple, really," Seifer said as he stepped back, taking the Gunblade from Scott's throat. "You're bait. I've seen you around FH, paling around with those miserable CeeD of Balamb. Especially Instructor Trepe. Put simply, she'll get them to come rescue you, then I'll kill Squall and the rest of them, saving Quistis for last. Then, my friend, I'll kill you too."

"Bastard.." Was all Scott got out. An electric shock shot through his body, forcing him to cry out in pain. Just as quickly as it started, the electricity was shut off.

"Does it hurt much?" Seifer asked icily.

Weakly, Scott replied, "Trade places with me… and find out..." He was cut short by another surge of electricity. As before, it stopped just as quickly. As he recovered from this second assault, he remembered back to when it was just a game. He laughed quietly to himself at the irony of the situation.

"Cute comments will get you nowhere, kid," Seifer said. "I'm barely in the mood to torture you." Turning to some men behind him, he said, "Are you ready yet??"

The soldiers were quickly setting up a camera of some kind. Apparently they were gonna send a vid-disk to Balamb Garden.

"Kind of a weak plan, Seifer," Scott said. "Sending a ransom demand on a vid-disk."

"Vid-disk?" Seifer replied, turning back to him. "Whoever said anything about a vid-disk?" He looked back at the soldiers, who flipped him a thumbs-up, then walked over and stood next to Scott, putting the Gunblade at his throat again. "Smile, kid. You're gonna be on T.V..."

Quistis was curled up in her bed, sobbing quietly to herself. She had been there in that position ever since after giving a brief report to Squall and Cid. That was almost seven hours ago. She hadn't moved except to wipe her eyes and roll over. She couldn't believe he was gone. The Pomp And Constance had turned up a negative search. They had expressed their condolences, and returned to their duties. Several time since then, people had knocked on her door to express their sorrow. She took them all without a word. It hurt too much to talk about it. About anything.

As she wiped her eyes for the thousandth time, there was another knock on her door. Squall entered immediately after, a concerned but urgent look on his face.

"Quistis, we need you on the bridge."

"Leave me alone," She replied. "I'm unfit for duty right now."

"No, Quistis. You need to be there."

"I said leave me alone." she repeated, not turning to face him.

"It's about Scott," Squall said, coming right to the point. This brought her to face him.

"What??"

"Come see for yourself," he said, turning and walking away. Pulling herself together and trying, to no avail, t wipe the redness from her eyes, she stood and ran past Squall to the elevator. He got there just as the elevator arrived, and they both rode it to the top level. Once in the bridge, she saw what he had been talking about. On the screen was an image of Scott hanging off of a Shock Rack. He looked like he had been beaten as well. Standing next to him, holding a Gunblade to his throat, was Seifer. Still alive after all they had been thru.

To Scott, he said, "Say hello to the world, kid." He looked into the camera. "There are a million people out there right now; watching you, wondering if I'm gonna slit your throat. Well, I'm not. Not yet anyway. I might later." He walked a bit towards the camera a little bit. "This message is for you CeeD of Balamb. Hello there! You see whom I have? He's one of yours, if I remember right. A rather attached one too. Hi, Instructor Trepe!"

Quistis was too horrified and angry at the same time to even think about the insulting way he said her name and title. If she had a chair and her will power was a little less, she'd have smashed the television. Instead, she watched as her anger boiled.

"I have a little proposition for you people. Surrender your Garden, and anything else I want of course, and I'll let this young man go. If you don't, well.." He walked back to Scott. "Well, we don't have to address that part, do we? I'll give you ten hours." He started to walk out of picture, but stopped halfway off. "Oh yeah, in case you think I'm not serious..." He pointed to someone off screen, who flipped a switch. A bolt of electricity shot thru Scott, making him scream out in pain. "The world is waiting for your answer, CeeDs. I'm not as patient, but you still have some time." The image went blank.

Quistis' rage finally overcame her. She whirled around lightning quick, grabbed her Chain Whip, and with a flick of her wrist and a scream of anger, destroyed the monitor.

"AHH jeeze, Quistis!!" Zell, who was closest to the monitor, yelled.

"Damnit!!" Quistis exclaimed. "That rotten, no good, dirty sonofabitch! That bastard! That Fucking dickhead!" Although they had expected this, it came as a great surprise to everyone there how much language she was using. "He's gonna pay for this!" I kid you not!!"

"Calm down," Squall said. "We're gonna get him back. I just need to make a plan."

"Ok," she said, whirling on him, an angry look. "Here's the plan then. We find them, get Scott, and blow Seifer's brains out the left side of his head."

"Uh..." said Squall, not really knowing how to deal with this. He wasn't used to her being this aggravated. Luckily, Selphie decided to step in on the conversation. "Quistis, calm down. Now, we're gonna get Scott back. It's just gonna take some time. And, in your state of mind, you're no use to us. Now, go back to your room, calm down, and we'll think of a plan, OK?"

Quistis hesitated for a minute, and then said, "Alright. But the minute you have your plan, you come get me, got it?"

"We'll get you," Rinoa said, gently pushing her to the elevator. "Now go calm down."

Quistis got into the elevator, and returned to her room. After a few minutes of lying on her bed, she was crying again. But her tears were of anger rather than grief. She had never liked Seifer all that much, but now she hated him. After his defeat at Pandora, he had given up on his "romantic dream" of being the sorceress' knight and went to live in Balamb for a time. He had seemed happy, living with Fujin and Rajin. Why had he become so evil again? What was his motivation? All her questions accompanied her to her sleep.

Scott awoke hours later. He had been brought to a a cell. His Gunblade was gone, as were his gloves and shoes. His whole body hurt. Especially his arms where the restraints held him up. Though he was immeasurably lighter than when he first came to this world, he was still a big man. His pockets were all empty. Even that chocolate bar he had been saving was gone.

"Damn..." Scott said aloud. He looked around to see a barren room. No windows, no beds, only a door. "I've gotta be at that prison out by Galbadia. This is just like in the game. Only it's not a game." Standing up, he paced back and forth for a few seconds. It made his body feel a little better to move around freely. He stretched, and walked up to the door, examining it. Seeing no way out that way, he turned back to the cell. Nothing. He walked to the furthest wall, and sat down. Nothing to do by wait.

Quistis woke to a knock on her door. Her eyes hurt. She must have been crying in her sleep. Wiping her eyes, she rose and answered Rinoa's calling.

"What is it?"

"Oh," Rinoa said, seeing Quistis' eyes were really red. "I'm sorry. I'll come back a little later."

"No no, it's Ok. What do you need?"

"Um... Squall sent me to tell you he's got a plan."

"Ok, I'm coming," she replied and closed the door.

Minutes later, she re-emerged, eyes no longer red, and accompanied Rinoa to Cid's office. Squall was waiting in the outer room of the office/bridge level. He knew she had spent the past few hours crying to herself. Even though her appearance betrayed nothing, he knew her well enough to know how she was feeling. As she walked up to him, he reached out and gave her a reassuring hug, saying it would be alright. She reciprocated by returning the much needed hug. When they separated, Squall led them all into the office. Everyone was there. Even a few students were in attendance. Quite a few, in fact. She inquired as to the reason of there presence.

"Don't worry," Zell said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. Even he knew she was crying. "We'll explain everything."

More students arrived, and Squall announced it time to begin. Everyone sat, stood, or leaned against something in order to see the large monitor occupying the bridge side of the room. Quistis sat at the far end of the table that had been set up, giving her the best view of all. Everyone who stood or sat next to her gave her a reassuring or comforting word, pat, or squeeze, and it made her feel a little better to know they all cared in one way or another. The sentimental help finished, Squall began.

"First off, I'd again like to express my regret to Quistis, and promise her that we'll get Scott Wolf back at whatever cost." He made an all encompassing gesture, sort of reminding Quistis of the way Cid used to speak in classes when he wanted everyone to know he was speaking to all of them. "You've all been summoned here for one reason and one reason only: We will need all of your help to get our comrade-in-arms back. For some of you, this will be your first mission as official CeeD. For others, it will be your graduation test. For all of you, green student and seasoned veteran alike, this will be the most dangerous mission of your lives.

"I want you all to know that we will be risking our lives, our well-being, our careers for one man. You're probably wondering why. Why risk all of our lives for one? Because the one life is more important."

A chorus of unbelieving murmurs and laughs went through the group. Squall let them quiet down before continuing. "Yes, yes, I know it sounds like total bullshit to you all. But I've recently been given evidence and testimony to it's truth. Headmaster Cid's wife, Edea, confided in me shortly after the earlier broadcast that she sensed something very special in Scott when he had first arrived, but had kept the feeling to herself. She had thought it nothing at the time. But as time has progressed, the feeling nagged at her. Yesterday, the feeling intensified. It was so great she fainted into her husband's arms. He brought her here, and when she awoke she told me everything.

"She told me her feeling had produced an image in her mind. An image of Scott, standing upon a stone platform called the Seventh Seal, with a power surging through his arms and hands into the sky toward the moon." As he spoke, a picture of what an artist had made to recreate the image showed on the screen. It was indeed Scott on the stone platform. There were licks of fire flowing up the pillar of the platform, as well as around it. The bright blue energy beam from his arms reached up to encircle the moon. "She believes he is the one to return the Moon Monsters to their place of resting. That is why we must get him back alive. You are all still probably thinking it to be fantasy. Well, I am inclined to believe her. So I've ordered this rescue to take place."

He took a look at everyone's face. Each was different, and it ranged from awe-struck to disbelieving. "Whether you believe it or not, it doesn't matter to me. Scott is my friend, and boyfriend of my best friend and instructor. I will not rest until he is safely returned here. Some of you knew him personally, and you know he's a good man. One worth the effort.

"The mission is simple, and Zell and Irvine will fill you in." He motioned for the pair to approach, and stood to the side.

"Ok, so here's the deal," Zell started. "We know where they're holding him, but we don't know how to get in. So we're gonna use the direct approach." Behind him on the screen, a map of the world came up, which zoomed in on the area where the Galbadia Prison was located. "This is the prison's location. There are bound to be sentries set all around this area." As he spoke, a red circle appeared around the prison at a miles distance. "We don't have exact spots, but we know they'll keep in radio contact so they can warn the base of what's coming. So we're gonna have to be really careful."

Irvine took over for the moment. "We will be divided into several teams. Most will be decoys, assigned to put pressure in one area, while the few of us left will make the incursion on the opposite side of the area. Very simply, get in, find our man, get out."

Zell took attention back now. "Our main forces will strike right about here, in this area to the northeast," he said, pointing on the map. "The rest will move in here while the fighting is goin on. Once inside, we'll play it by ear. The main thing is to keep the outside forces where they are while we're inside. You'll take heavy casualties, but we need you to stay there until we give the mission complete signal. Either that, or until the prison explodes," he said with a smile. Everyone got a laugh in, then Rinoa spoke.

"Now listen everyone. As long as you can hold outside, the mission should go smoothly. But with Seifer involved, there's no telling what could happen. If you see the Galbadian Garden coming, if you find you're way, way outnumbered halfway into the battle, if you take too many casualties, run. Run far, run fast. Get back to the garden anyway you can, and be ready to oppose any attack it may come under. After that, continue on with the school. Keep it alive. Train hard, and survive."

The silence at her words was thick enough to cut with a dull knife. Finally Squall broke the silence.

"Ok, let's go." Everyone stood and began moving out into the outer room to board the elevator.

Quistis rose last. She looked back to the map, as if it by itself would bring Scott home. Reluctantly, she returned to her quarters to prepare.

In his dull, grey cell, Scott felt very alone. His knees held to his chest, he rested his head on them. Dimly, he wondered how he was going to get out of here, but that thought was overshadowed by worry. How was Quistis? Had they escaped the monster's grasp? Most likely, he thought. He had been able to get most of the tentacles free. The Ragnarok had enough power to break itself free from two tentacles, but he got greedy. He wanted it to be perfect. It was his fault he had fallen, but how he had gotten here was a mystery. His thoughts accompanied him into an uneasy sleep.


	6. Reunion

**Ultimate Fantasy  
Reunion**

The desert seemed to go on forever

The desert seemed to go on forever. There was nothing in sight for miles in all directions, except for the mountains in the west and the southeast. Other than that, sand for miles and miles. Dunes rising as high as a hundred feet up, pits as low as forty feet, and very little vegetation. Snakes slithered along, looking for food, not caring about anything else.

The vehicles moved swiftly over the sand, their large tires finding traction on the slick, unstable sand. There were fifteen in all, most barely functioning. They were in single file to disguise their numbers from any passing patrols. Within each vehicle were several men and women; students and CeeD from Balamb Garden. They were all nervous, veterans and rookies alike. _This mission will be the most dangerous one of your lives, _Squall had said. _We're all risking our lives, our well-beings, our careers for one man._ This didn't make sense to a lot of the students. But the CeeD knew it was the right thing to do. Never leave a man behind. If he's gonna die, let him die at home with his friends and family.

The Comm channel the force was using had been silent for hours, ever since they left the Garden in the south near Galbadia City. It suddenly came alive with short orders to begin the split. According to the plan, the majority of the force was to turn northeast and attack the prison there, while the rest came in from the southwest and snuck in where the defenses had been weakened by the sudden attack. As soon as the vehicles began to split up, the Comm channel was quiet again.

Quistis looked out the slit that served as a window. The vehicles had all been fitted with armor coverings to protect the people inside them. To Quistis, it was a nuisance. She wanted to be able to see everything, even though Zell assured her that there was little to see. "Unless you like looking at sand," he joked. "'Cause there's a lot of it, all beige and dull."

Quistis ignored the humor. She wasn't in the mood to laugh. She only had one thing on her mind: Get her love back. Scott was in that damn prison somewhere, and she was gonna find him if it was the last thing she ever did.

Squall looked over at her from across the vehicle. They were riding in the passenger's area with Rinoa and Selphie. Zell was driving, and Irvine was seated next to him up front. Two other vehicles, filled with veteran CeeD, had turned with them back at the split. As Squall looked at her, he couldn't help but feel sorrow. She was seated on her knees, turned towards the slit/window, starring out at the sand. He was trying to think of something to say that would snap her out of this funk of hers, but nothing came to mind. He wasn't good at comforting people. When he tried, it usually came off as cold, emotionless, and not heartfelt, even though he meant it to be. So he simply said nothing.  
Hours passed, and they were still miles away from the objective. They weren't worried about being late. The attack wouldn't begin till Irvine sent a coded signal over the Comm system.

During the whole trip, Rinoa and Selphie chatted about the Garden Festival. Quistis couldn't understand how they were able to talk about something so trivial at a time like this, but she figured it was their way of relieving the pressure, much as Scott did by cracking jokes and funny comments.

The memory of him complaining about being woken up started her eyes to well up with tears, but she held them in. She didn't want to cry in front of her friends. Still, the ache was there, and it hurt worse now than ever before. But it was countered with the anticipation of getting him back. Then they would be together forever. She would grab him, hold him, and never let him go. He meant so much to her, and losing him would...

She didn't want to think about it. She shook her head to clear out those thoughts, and noticed Squall starring at her. One look in his eye, and she knew he would do everything in his power to help get Scott back. Even though he didn't have Shiva, which was in Scott's possession, he still had Diablos and Eden. She herself had Ifrit and Cactuar. Zell carried Quetzalcoatl, the Brothers (who were currently in a bit of a disagreement), and Tonberry King, while Irvine had only Bahamut. Selphie carried Siren, Cerebrus, Leviathan, and Pandemona, and Rinoa had Doomtrain, Carbuncle, and Alexander.

She turned back to the slit/window, and just watched the desert go by. As she watched, she asked herself questions. Why was she doing this? Was it because she loved this one man while there were others in the world? She did have her choice. Maybe not at the garden, but still, there were others. So why was she putting herself, her friends, and the entire force of CeeD through this? Was Scott worth THAT much? This question kept coming up, and, ultimately, when she finally stopped asking, the answer was the same.

YES. Emphatically yes. Scott meant more to her than anyone else in the world. In the universe. She was willing to go through hell and back as many times as the Devil himself commanded to get him back. She would not stop. Not ever.

Deep within her, Ifrit growled. She had been noticing this for some time. When her emotions ran high, Ifrit seemed to mirror them. She didn't know how this link had been made, but she felt him. Maybe it was because she had used him so much. It was her GF, so it became aware of her emotions, like a pet. And consequently, she was made aware of his. Even though it startled her, she didn't tell the others. She didn't know why, they were her closest friends. She hadn't told Scott either, and he was closer than any friend.

Mentally, she tried to soothe the rage within the GF. He wanted to attack the people that made her feel this way. He didn't like her being sad or upset. It made him all the angrier.  
Finally, after she had calmed him enough, she returned to the normal seated position, eyes closed to keep in the tears. She thought to herself the same thing she willed Scott to hear:

_We're coming, Scott, _she thought. _We're coming..._

How much time had passed since the on air torture? Hours? Days? Years? Scott couldn't tell. His only way of knowing what time it was by asking the guard who delivered his breakfast and dinner. The guard was a nice enough fellow, but not nice enough to let him out. They cracked jokes and insulted each other thru the door, both trying to out-do the other. It kept both of them busy, and it kept Scott from going insane. The guard, called Henry, was good at tossing insults, but his jokes were a little on the weak side.

"Hey, Henry," Scott said thru the door.

"Yeah?"

"What do you call a Galbadian Soldier with half a brain?"

"What?"

"A Genius!"

Henry laughed, and said, "What do you get when you cross a CeeD and a Buel?"

"What?"

"A flying moron!"

Scott gave a fake laugh. "A blonde Galbadian and a brunette Galbadian jumped off a bridge. Which hit the water first?"

"I dunno."

"Neither. Both got lost on the way down."

"You're pretty funny, Wolf," Henry said when he stopped laughing.

"You're not bad yourself."

"Gonna be a shame to kill you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Scott replied, leaning against the door. "Well, I don't plan on dying, so don't feel bad."

"How so?"

"My friends'll get me outta here."

"Sure," Henry said with the appropriate amount of sarcasm. "When they do, tell them to let me live ok?"

"You'll be the only one, pal."

"Why is it taking so long?" Quistis asked, a little harshly. It had Selphie almost cringing.

"Quistis, calm down," Squall said. "It takes as long as it takes. We'll be there soon enough."

Quistis sat back down and folded her arms. She hated to wait. Especially since she was so close to getting Scott back. It aggravated her so much that Seifer was this bold. Getting a sea monster to attack a flying ship was quite a feat indeed, and she saluted him for it. But if she found him, she was going to skewer him for it.

Irvine had sent the signal to the other group. The attack on the other side of the base had to be on by now, so they were finally heading toward the prison. It was barely in view. They had started towards it far away so as not to be detected. In ten minutes time, they covered the distance and were at the back door. Squall jumped out of the back, followed closely by Quistis, then Rinoa and Selphie. Irvine got out as Rinoa was trying to pick the door lock with no success.

"Damnit," she exclaimed finally. "This code breaker isn't working. We'll have to find another way in."

"We don't have time," Squall said.

"One door, coming up," Zell exclaimed from the driver's seat of the vehicle, which he had backed up considerably. While everyone was wondering what he meant, he hit the gas, letting out a yell. The vehicle picked up speed quickly, and everyone had to dive for cover when he hit the doorway, taking it all the way thru. All the CeeDs rushed in to secure the room, while Squall and Selphie ran to where the truck had embedded itself in the wall across the way.

"Zell," Selphie called. "You ok?"

"No problem," Zell replied as he emerged from the wreck and walked over to them, a little groggily. "Everything's cool."

"Good job, man," Squall said. "Can you go on?"

"No sweat, bro," Zell said, shaking the last of the cobwebs from his head. "Let's get movin."

"This way," Rinoa called from another door. The Ceeds gathered at the door, and, after charging a spell of some sort, burst thru the door. The guards on the other side had heard the commotion, and were walking over to investigate. They were a little surprised to see twenty CeeD come thru the door with spells blasting. Two of the guards went down first, taking hits in their chests. The others had been quick enough to dodge or duck. As the CeeD poured into the room, the emerged and engadged. Those CeeD that weren't fighting or had broken thru already were heading up the stairwell on the far side of the room.  
The room on the level up was empty, and Squall gathered everyone who had gotten thru here. The rest were either dead, wounded, or still fighting. He was glad to see that his friends had made it. seven other CeeD had come up with them.

"Ok," he said. "If I remeber right, the prisoner cells are three flights up."

"But the VIP cells are further," Zell said.

"And a normal cell couldn't hold Scott for this long," Rinoa added.

"Ok, so we head for the VIP cells," Quistis said. Deep inside her, Ifrit roared his agreement.

"Works for me," Squall said. "Let's go."

Scott could hear the fighting in the front and wondered if they were gonna make it thru. His friend outside had run off to join the battle. He was all alone. He didn't like it. He knew Quistis was out there, fighting to get in. She wouldn't give up, not for anything. He was about to get up and bang on the door just for some noise, when he heard a banging a little ways down the cell line. Shortly after, there was another one, closer his way, then another even closer. He leapt up and banged on the door just as Quistis got to his, shouting that he was in here. He heard Squall yell for him to stand back. He did just as two sets of black, sharp fingers broke thru the door. The gripped it, and the door was slowly starting to pull away, until it finally came away. Scott saw Diablos disappear as Quistis ran into the room to embrace him.

"I was so worried about you," she was saying in between kisses. When she had calmed down, they both exited the cell. Everyone was waiting there. Zell was holding his shoes and gloves, while Squall had his Gunblade. Everyone was smiling, glad to see him again. He put his shoes and gloves on, and took his Gunblade from Squall.

"Welcome back, bro," Zell said.

"Good to see you again," Irvine added.

"Good to be seen," Scott said.

"Let's get outta here," Rinoa said. They all turned to leave, and stopped. A fairly large sized robot blocked the way. It wasn't like anything any of them had ever seen. It was almost as tall as the ceiling, but it was man-like, with a missile launcher on it's shoulder, and pistols in it's hands.

"CeeD, prepare to be destroyed."

"Scatter," Squall yelled as it fired its missiles. They impacted on the floor, exploding and sending debris everywhere. "Split up! We'll meet at the exit!"

Scott, Quistis, and another of the CeeD ran down a hallway to their right, while everyone scattered. Now guards had caught on, and were chasing them down the hall. The CeeD took a hit in his back and sprawled to the floor. Scott stopped and was about to turn back, but the CeeD yelled for them to keep going. He didn't argue, as the guards were catching up. They ran up several stairways, until finally ending up out on the roof. They ran thru the door, with Quistis closing it behind them. She then used a fire spell to seal the edges. They ran to the edge of the roof, and stopped dead in their tracks. It had to be maybe two hundred feet to the ground.

As the guards started to break thru the door behind them, Scott considered their options, then chose the one he knew Quistis would hate.

"Quistis, give me a Protect."

She read his mind, and was totally against it. "No way, Scott. Not that way."

"There's no other way," he said. "We gotta jump it."

"No, Scott. There's gotta be another way."

"If you see one, let me know. Otherwise, give me a Protect and hang on."

Reluctantly, Quistis transferred a Protect to him. He received it just as they broke thru. Quickly, he grabbed Quistis and, hugging her close so she would be covered in the spell too, dove off the edge. She had her eyes closed the entire way down. When he thought they were far enough down, Scott cast Protect, and braced for the impact. As it had in the north, the impact made a crater ten feet wide. When the dust cleared, they opened their eyes to see if they were alright. They were.

"Let's not do that again," Quistis said, looking back up.

"I second that," Scott replied. "Let's go."

Together, they ran around to where the vehicles were. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by Galbadians, who saw them. Scott drew his Gunblade and Quistis her Chain Whip, and both dove into battle. Unexpectedly, Ifrit appeared, along with Shiva. Everyone stopped in their tracks, including the CeeD coming out the door. They hadn't been summoned, but had emerged of their own accord. As they attacked, some of the soldiers tried to run. They didn't get far, as the two GFs were much too fast. When all the soldiers were taken care of, the GFs disappeared. After a few seconds, the CeeDs all ran over to Scott and Quistis.

"What was that all about," Squall asked.

"We didn't summon them," Scott said. They came out on their own."

"It's true, Squall," Quistis said.

"We'll discuss it later. Let's get outta here."

The surviving CeeD boarded the vehicles, except for the one that had opened the door. Together, they moved away from the prison. Irvine sent the retreat order, and the battles tapered off until every CeeD that had survived was back in the vehicles and returning home. The Galbadians were confused. They had gotten so close to getting thru, but had retreated at the last second. It wasn't until they heard that a prisoner, _THE_ prisoner, was gone that they figured it out.

Scott and Quistis were left to themselves in the back of one vehicle to rejoice in seeing each other. Barely a word was spoken between them on the way back to Galbadia City, but much kissing occurred.

Several hours later, everyone was back aboard Balamb Garden. The wounded had been rushed to Dr. Kadowaki for treatment. The worst were taken first, the worst of those was a slit stomach and a lot of bleeding. The rest were treated by nurses and other doctors that had been brought aboard for this purpose. Dr. Kadowaki expressed her joy at seeing Scott by complaining that he had taken too long to get back.

Squall called Scott and Quistis up to Cid's office, where he told them that they had done well. He was about to say something else, when the monitor on the desk flickered to life.  
"Squall," Irvine said from the bridge where he had gone to give moving orders. "We're picking up another transmition, and you gotta see it. I'll patch it thru." His face was replaced by Seifers.

"You DAMNED CEED!! HOW DARE YOU RESPONED THAT WAY!! I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU ALL!! ONE DAY!! JUST YOU WAIT!!" The screen then went blank.

"Bite me, Seifer," Scott said, and, putting his arm around Quistis, walked back to the elevator.

"Amen, brother," Squall said silently as he watched them go.


	7. Interesting Twists

**Ultimate Fantasy**

**Interesting Twists**

"Hmmm... Very interesting..."

Cid and Squall had been pouring over Quistis' report of the incident at the prison, and still couldn't really believe what they had read.

_As we advanced on the enemy position, our GFs released themselves and struck down the enemy. This incident has happened to me only once before. On a more distracting note, and I don't know quite how to explain this, but I can feel my GF when he's angry, agitated, or any other emotion. It's as if it can feel my emotions and mirror them back to me. I'm not sure what caused this, as there is no written record of such an occurrence anywhere in this Garden. I recommend further study into this phenomenon. It could possibly be a new stage in the bonds between a SeeD and a GF. This report is as accurate as I could make it. Signed Quistis Trepe._

"Puzzling, even," Squall said from across the desk, a copy of the report in his hand. "It really could be a new level of bonding."

"That is a definite possibility," Cid said, his fingers making a steeple. "In that case, it will be both beneficial and dangerous to our SeeD."

"Yeah," Squall said, rubbing his eyes. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since they got back the day before. "If GFs decide to take matters into their own hands, it could be bad for the students, not to mention whatever happens to be in the close vicinity."

"We'd better keep this quiet for now. We don't want to start a panic among students and SeeD alike. They'd be trying to get rid of their GFs, and we can't have that happen."

"Agreed."

"Go get some sleep, Squall. I'll file this where it belongs," Cid said.

"G'nite, sir," Squall said as he stood, saluted, and left. Cid watched him go, wondering where this new twist would go...

Squall walked down the hallway to the room he and Rinoa shared. He passed Zell and Sherry's room. Snoring could be heard, even thru the closed door. Next door belonged to Selphie and Irvine. The light was on beneath the door, so he could only guess what they were doing. Further down was Quistis and Scott's room. He expect they were asleep. They weren't night owls like alot of couples in the Garden. Finally he reached his room. As he expected, Rinoa was already asleep.

And hogging the covers again I see, he thought. He undressed himself and lay down, trying to get some covers without waking her. She had a death grip on them, but he finally wrestled enough away. As he lay there, fighting for sleep, he wondered how Shiva could have bonded with Scott so quickly. He hasn't been a SeeD for all that long, just barely had her longer. Squall had her ever since he became SeeD, and he never even got close to this bond.

It almost annoyed him to know that. That a fresh SeeD was able to make a bond with a GF that fast. That he had done it with his GF.

Squall let these feelings drift him off to sleep. He dreamed that he was fighting Seifer again. He tried to summon Diablo, but it wasn't there. It was as if his connections with his GF had been severed by Seifer's Gunblade. He looked up and watched as Seifer waved his hand. And the world exploded. Bright white light engulfed him and Seifer. Seifer cringed and screamed in agony, as if the light was burning him to the core. Squall felt nothing, only having to shield his eyes from the brightness. With one last scream of pain, Seifer disintegrated, and the light disappeared. When he uncovered his eyes, Scott stood a few feet from where Seifer had stood, lowering his arms. In his dream, Scott told him to stop going out alone. He had friends that were more than willing to help. He had a home, a girl, a life. If anyone had to go out alone, it was himself. Squall said no, Scott had a place too. With Quistis. Scott said that it didn't matter what happened to him now. His work was done, it was time to go home. The light returned, and engulfed Scott. Before he disappeared, Scott said to take care of Quistis for him. The light intensified, then pulsed brightly...

Squall bolted upright, ripping the covers from Rinoa's grasp. It had been just a dream. But Squall didn't like what it had been about.

The next morning, Squall woke to see Rinoa writing for the Garden paper, the Balamb Daily. He stretched, and sat up. Rinoa noticed, looked over at him, smiled and said good morning.

"What you writing about this week," Squall asked.

"Nothing much," She replied. "Just about a dream I had last night."

Squall stood and stretched again. "What was it about?"

"Of all the weirdest things," Rinoa said, putting the pen down. "It was about Scott, protecting me with a bright light, then saying he had to leave. Isn't that strange?"

"Not really," Squall said, walking over to the closet. As he dressed, he described his dream to Rinoa.

"Wow," Rinoa said when he finished. "If we both had the same dream, would it be possible that others had the same dream? Like when Ellone showed us Laguna?"

"I don't think it's like those dreams, but it is possible others had the dream."

"What do you think I means?"

"I'm not sure," Squall said, zipping up his jacked. "Come on, let's get some breakfast."As they entered the cafeteria, the weren't at all surprised to see Zell standing last in line, an impatient pose about him. Smiling, they took their place behind him.

"You know, Zell," Rinoa said, "maybe if you got here a little earlier, you might not be last all the time."

"Yeah, I know," he replied over his shoulder.

"What's new," Squall asked.

"Not much. Quistis and Scott are being interviewed by garden officials again, so they don't get breakfast."

"No big deal," Rinoa said. "They never eat breakfast anyway."

"Selphie and Irvine took a car from the garage earlier. Said something about wanting to check up on Trabadia Garden."

"I know," Squall said. The line moved before he could finish. "They asked about it yesterday. I told them it was ok."

"Ok, cool." The line moved. "Cid left early this morning. Said he was gonna spend more time with Edea."

"Good for him," Rinoa said, clapping her hands. "He needs time off." The line moved. "He does too much for a man his age."

"He just wants to be useful," Squall said. "If I were that age, and not owning the garden anymore, I'd want to help out a lot too."

"Still," Zell said, but didn't get to finish. Sherry, his girlfriend, strolled up and stood beside him. "What's up, girl?"

"Nothin," she replied, giving him a short kiss. "Just hungry, that's all."

"Well, then," Zell said, straightening up. "Go right ahead."

She smiled, and stepped in front of him as Zell continued. "Still, Cid tries to do too much. Yesterday morning I saw him running down to the library, then five minutes later to the infirmary. And I mean running, full speed. Straight out sprint."

"Cid sprinted?" Rinoa said, amazed that a man as old as Cid could run that fast."Fastest I've ever seen him," Zell replied.

The line moved, and Squall pondered why Cid would be actually running anywhere.

"But Selphie," Irvine protested. He and Selphie were in the car they had taken from Balamb Garden. Irvine was driving. . They had been discussing the songs to be played at the next graduation. "I play electric Guitar. How can I get that kind of sound from an electric?"

Selphie, sitting on the chair by her desk, crossed her arms. "There's probably a way, but you don't know it yet."

"I practiced and learned for twelve years, Selphie. There's no way," Irvine replied. She knew this, of course. He had told her once when they had been talking late at night. Studied under an old guitarist named Carlos Santanos. Played in a few bands at Galbadia Garden, when it was still just a garden. And, of course, he had played with Selphie, Zell, and Quistis way back when to cheer Squall up. He loved his guitar almost as much as he loved Selphie.

"There's gotta be a way..." Selphie said, thinking as hard as she could. She had always wanted to hear the guitar make animal noises. Why, she never knew. Her thoughts were interrupted as the car came to a halt in front of a gate. "We're here!" She hopped out of the car quickly and ran up to the gate, opening it and quickly running in.

Irvine smiled, walking up calmly. He strode thru the gate...and froze.

The buildings were gone, a great black burn spot on the ground where each stood. The fountain was the only thing left, and it was dry as a bone. Selphie stood starring around what used to be the main walkway to her original garden, now barely seeable due to charring.

"Jeeze," he said, looking around. "What happened here?"

"I don't know," Selphie replied, very near tears. She dropped to her knees as he walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She gripped his hand and cried, as he assured her that he'd find out what happened.

Squall and Zell squared off into fighting positions. Zell had wanted practice today, and Squall had agreed to spar with him. Scott sat against the wall and watched. Both their techniques were nearly perfect. Scott knew them intimately, they were his own, mixed and blended.

As they began to move closer to each other, Rinoa came running into the room.

"Squall, you guys," she said, still trying to catch her breath, "there's a problem at Trabia Garden. You'd better come to the comm room quick!""And there's barely anything left that's recognizable," Irvine finished telling Quistis. He had called in as soon as he had calmed Selphie down enough to get back to the car with her. She could be heard in the background sniffling quietly.

"No signs of survivors," Quistis asked over the comm.

"Not a one." Selphie started to cry heavily again upon hearing that.

"This is not good," Quistis said over Selphie. "What else can you tell me?"

"Not much," Irvine said, looking around. "Whatever got this place was very thorough. All the metal machinery that was below the garden was fused together. Now it looks a great big metal plate on the surface."

"And you say there's nothing else?"

"Not a stone."

"Alright, We're in-bound. Rendezvouse a mile east of your position."

Irvine rogered and killed the radio, then looked over at Selphie. She had curled herself into a ball, sniffling quietly. His hand on her shoulder was little comfort, he knew, but right now he couldn't do much more. Looking back onto the black ground that had once been her home garden, he felt very useless. His life as a sniper, at the begining, had been difficult. When it came down to it, he had choked more often than not. Once, it had nearly cost a life. He had sworn to make up for that mistake, but he still felt it hadn't been attoned yet. He hoped that finding out what had done this to his girfriend's garden would somehow appease his inner demon. Yet, somehow, he knew it wouldn't end there.

Scott piloted the Ragnarok to the spot Quistis had said they'd meet Irvine and Selphie. Irvine had sounded nowhere near as distressed as Selphie. Not that he could blame her. He imagined how he'd feel if someone nuked Balamb, or even Los Angeles, his real home. For a brief moment, he wondered what had happened after he had come here. His dad must have noticed by now, unless that world was on hold till he fulfilled some mystical destiny here. But what then? If he did, would he have to leave his family here? Would he have to leave Quistis? Such was not a thought he lingered on if he could help it.

The nose of the Ragnarok came up sharply as he brought it down as gentle as possible. Within minutes, he and the rest of the group were outside and waiting for Irvine and Selphie to show up. Their car appeared within a few seconds and came to a stop under the left wing. Irvine disembarked as Quistis and Rinoa went to comfort Selphie somehow.

Squall had seen the devastation, having Scott fly over before landing. It was just as bad as Irvine had described. The garden looked as if it had never existed. A big burn mark was left where a school had once stood proud.

Squall had Scott and Zell load the car onto the Ragnarok, while the girls got Selphie onboard as well. Squall and Irvine searched, in vain, for evidence of what could have done this. Frustrated and confused, they returned to the airship and flew back to the garden.

Squall sat silently in the cockpit of the Ragnarok the entire trip home. Selphie was a wreck, emotionally, so Squall gave her and Irvine shore leave (well, what else are you gonna get on a flying school?) and dropped them off at Estar. Laguna and Johnathan had returned there the day before, after adding another worry to Squall's mind. The moon creatures were massing again. The thing he didn't understand was how were they able to regenerate so fast? It had barely been six months since Ulticima's defeat. Was there some new force recreating them? The thought didn't boad well.

The other thing troubling him was that dream he and Rinoa had shared. He had forgotten to ask everyone else if they had had the same dream. He suspected they haddn't, or they'd have mentioned something by now. He was perfectly willing to let it go as a one-time occurance.

Scott expertly docked with Balamb Garden at Edea's house. Squall had ordered it there when they lifted off from Trabia, hoping it'd be safe there. He briefly wondered if whatever had laid waste to Trabia so severely had turned its weapon toward Galbadia too. A pretty tough target to hit, as it was always on the move.

After securing the ship and checking with Squall, Scott and Quistis walked down the access ramp to the ground around the garden. Together they just sat there in the flowers and grass, watching the world go by.

"Scott," Quistis said finally. "Are you happy here?"

"Of course, I'm happy here," Scott replied, looking at her. "What brought that on?"

"Nothing," she said, standing and walking out a few steps. "I mean, you have a family somewhere, back in your world. Don't you ever think about them?"

Scott was watching her as she walked, then looked away into the distance. "Sometimes. I do miss my parents and my sister. But I know that, wherever they are, they'll be fine." He stood and walked over to Quistis, putting his arms around her from behind and laying his head on her shoulder, gazing of in the direction she was. "Are you alright, Quistis?"

"I don't know." She turned in his grasp and held him. "I'm just scared is all."

"Scared? Of me leaving?"

"I know it sounds silly..." she said as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Quistis, I wouldn't leave even if I could. I've made too many friends here to just up and go like that." He hugged her tighter to him, feeling her shudder in his grasp. "I have a new family, here, with you and everyone."

"Scott..." She began to cry. He felt so helpless, as if nothing he could say would stop her tears. So he just held her, letting her cry it out. When she looked up, she was smiling again. "I'm glad you think of us as your family."

They held each other as they walked back to the garden. Quistis told him about a dream she had had the other night. It was strikingly similar to the one Squall had, tho neither knew this.

Zell was running up the stairs to the elevator when Scott and Quistis entered the lobby. He looked practically hysterical. Scott called to him and asked what was happening.

"It's them!" Zell shouted over his shoulder." The people who glassed Trabia! They called us and we're next!"

All the while, waiting for the elevator; Zell was practically hopping from foot to foot.

When they reached the top floor, they all went running to the bridge. Squall was there, issuing orders and preparing to leave. He spied them as soon as they entered.

"Scott, Quistis, ready the Ragnarok," he shouted over the commotion. There were a great many people running around.

"Why," Scott asked.

"You're going to observe where the shot comes from."

"You wanna run that by me again?" Scott couldn't believe his ears.

"No time," Squall replied. "They're gonna hit us in five minutes. You've got that long to be airborne."

"What about you and the garden," Quistis asked franticly.

"We're gonna try to not get hit. If you're in the Ragnarok, at least someone will be able to tell what happened."

"Yeah, but…"

"Scott, this is a direct order. Get your asses in that ship and LIFT OFF!!"

Without another word, both Quistis and Scott saluted, then left the bridge. They had the ship powered and in the air within minutes. As Scott piloted the ship to what he hoped was a safe distance, he reflected on what he was about to witness. "This is gonna suck."

The flight deck was tense on the Garden. Nida searched the sky, along with Zell and Squall. Everyone else was either evacuating the garden or helping, getting people to ejection pods or readying them for more students and staff. Two more minutes and they'd start evasive maneuvers, with fifteen seconds to spare before they were shot at.

Rinoa headed up to the bridge to be with Squall after making sure all the dorms were empty. She nodded to Squall upon arriving, and he hit the eject button for the life pods, which flew off the garden and into random directions. Sherry was already there with Zell. Everyone knew what hat happened to Trabia. No one had any illusions of what would happen if they were hit. The pressure was on Nida to get them out of the way as fast as possible. He was an excellent pilot, but he didn't know which way he'd have to dodge. It would have to be on the fly.

The timer rolled down to zero, and Nida began to turn the garden left, then right, varying their movements. Rinoa clutched Squall, Zell held Sherry. They all braced for what would come.

A bright light filled the night sky out of the west. It seemed to come from the sky, then hit the ground. It stayed on the horizon only an instant, then an energy bolt came hurtling toward Balamb Garden.

The flying fortress slid sideways at the last minute, but it wasn't enough. It took most of the hit on its left side. When the light was gone, Scott and Quistis could see that the entire side was melted away. The garden began to slide downward, and another energy bolt flew in to strike dead center. In a bright flash, it seared straight thru to streak out the other side. Scott and Quistis could only watch as their home fell to the ground, sounding like a great animal crashing to earth. Before it could even finish its landing, a third energy bold pierced it, causing it to explode across the landscape.

Quistis could not hold back her tears, and fell on her control board, sobbing. Scott could only sit in awe, then, as the realization of what happened fell upon him, let out a agonized cry of despair, which was mirrored by another from Quistis.

For many minutes that followed, neither could speak. The simply fell into each others arms and grieved. Grieved for their home and, more importantly, for their friends. Finally Quistis spoke.

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know, Quistis."

"Let's at least get somewhere safe," she said, pulling away from Scott slowly, reluctantly, and returning to her controls. "Let's head for… for Balamb." The word caught in her throat, threatening to send her into tears again, and she was still crying.

Scott wiped his eyes, and took the flight sticks, angling in the direction the HUD indicated and applied power, making a pass over the final resting place of Balamb Garden. "Good bye, my friends."


End file.
